New Delhi: Defender Amir Ali will lead a 20-member Indian squad in the men’s Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament starting in Muscat from November 26.
India have won this tournament for a record four times, including 2004, 2008, 2015 and 2023. They beat nemesis Pakistan 2-1 in the final last year to lift the title.
This year, the event will have 10 teams from the continent divided into two pools with India, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and Thailand clubbed in pool A.
Bangladesh, Malaysia, China, Oman and Pakistan are in Pool B.
The tournament is also a qualifying event for next year’s FIH Junior World Cup and India have automatically qualified for it by virtue of being hosts.
However under the guidance of coach PR Sreejesh, the team will be looking to build on its recent success at the Sultan of Johor Cup.
Rohit will serves as Amir Ali’s deputy.
“The Sultan of Johor Cup was a first-time experience for many of the players, yet they showed great spirit in doing well and I am quite pleased with how they performed,” Sreejesh said in a media release.
The team will be taking confidence from that performance and will be working towards a successful outing in the Junior Asia Cup.
“The players have been putting in a lot of hard work at the ongoing national camp in SAI, Bengaluru and we have made certain changes to our game to be more effective in defence and efficient in converting goals,” he added.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Princedeep Singh, Bikramjit Singh
Defenders: Amir Ali (C), Talem Priyobarta, Shardanand Tiwari, Yogember Rawat, Anmol Ekka, Rohit(VC).
Midfielders: Ankit Pal, Manmeet Singh, Rosan Kujur, Mukesh Toppo, Thokchom Kingson Singh.
Forwards: Gurjot Singh, Sourabh Anand Kushwaha, Dilraj Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Araijeet Singh Hundal.
Alternate Players: Sukhvinder and Chandan Yadav.