Hockey India (HI) on Saturday named 33 players, born after January 1, 1999, for the junior men's national camp after last week's selection trials at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here.
On May 24, after the conclusion of the Hockey India 7th Junior Men National Hockey Championship 2017, HI had named a total of 53 men who had reported to SAI, Bengaluru for a five-week camp.
During the course of the camp, the selection trials were conducted under the purview of Hockey India High Performance Director David John to identify a core group of players who will go on to represent the country in the upcoming tournaments.
The vision behind organising the national camp for the Junior Men's Team is to develop a Core Group of players for the prestigious 2020 Junior World Cup where the team will be defending their coveted title won last year in Lucknow.
The players come from Hockey Odisha, Steel Plant Sports Board, Hockey Punjab, Hockey Haryana, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Chandigarh, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha, Sports Authority of India, Punjab & Sind Bank, Manipur Hockey, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Services Sports Control Board and Hockey Bihar.
"One of the main criteria for their selection was also their age. Only those born on or after 1.1.1999 have been selected in the core group as this is the age cut off for the 2020 Junior World Cup," John said.
Core Probables:
Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak (Steel Plant Sports Board), Tanuj Gulia (Hockey Haryana), Prashant Kumar Chauhan (Uttar Pradesh Hockey), AS. Sentamizh Arasu (Services Sports Control Board).
Defenders: Suman Beck (Hockey Odisha), Prince (Punjab & Sind Bank), Dinachandra Singh Moirangthem (Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy), Mohd. Faraz (Uttar Pradesh Hockey), Vivek Sagar Prasad (Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy), Akshay Avasthi (Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy), Mandeep Mor (Hockey Haryana), Pratap Lakra (Hockey Gangpur-Odisha), Sanjay (Hockey Chandigarh).
Midfielders: Sunny Malik (Hockey Haryana), Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem (Manipur Hockey), Vishal Singh (Uttar Pradesh Hockey), Rahul (Services Sports Control Board), Sukhjeet Singh (Hockey Chandigarh), Yashdeep Siwach (Hockey Haryana), Vishal Antil (Hockey Haryana), Harmanjit Singh (Hockey Punjab), Varinder Singh (Hockey Punjab), Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (Uttar Pradesh Hockey).
Forwards: Raushan Kumar (Sports Authority of India), Mohd Alishan (Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy), Jai Prakash Patel (Steel Plant Sports Board), Shilanand Lakra (Steel Plant Sports Board), Anand Kumar Bara (Hockey Bihar), Mohd. Saif Khan (Sports Authority of India), Dilpreet Singh (Hockey Punjab), Maninder Singh (Hockey Chandigarh), Shivam Anand (Uttar Pradesh Hockey), Abhishek (Hockey Haryana).
--IANS
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