New Delhi
Hockey India on Monday announced a 20-member squad led by Aamir Ali for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup to be held in Muscat, Oman from November 26 to December 4. This tournament is also the qualifying tournament for the Junior World Cup to be held next year.
This year 10 teams from the continent will participate in the tournament. The teams have been divided into two pools for the tournament. Pool A consists of India, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and Thailand and Pool B consists of Bangladesh, Malaysia, China, Oman and Pakistan.
The Indian team will be led by Aamir Ali and the vice captain will be Rohit. The responsibility of goalpost will be on Princedeep Singh and Bikramjeet Singh. Defenders Aamir Ali, Talem Priobarta, Shardanand Tiwari, Yogambar Rawat, Anmol Ekka and Rohit have been included in the team.
Midfielders Ankit Pal, Manmeet Singh, Rosen Kujur, Mukesh Toppo, Thokchom Kingson Singh and forwards Gurjot Singh, Saurabh Anand Kushwaha, Dilraj Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Arijit Singh Hundal. Meanwhile, Sukhwinder and Chandan Yadav have been named as alternate players.
It is noteworthy that India has won this tournament a record four times including 2023, 2015, 2008 and 2004. They won the title last year by defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the final.
Indian team coach PR Sreejesh said, “The Sultan of Johor Cup was a first-time experience for many players, yet they showed great spirit to perform well and I am very happy with their performance. The players have worked very hard at the national camp in Bengaluru and we have made some changes to our game to be more effective in defense and efficient in scoring goals.”
