New Delhi: In a first of this type, the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team is ready to showcase talent at the star-studded Australian Hockey League (AHL) starting September 29th in Perth.
The Indian team which consists of 2 goal keepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 6 forwards will be led by Harjeet Singh and Dipsan Tirkey will shoulder the responsibility of the Vice Captain. Vikas Dahiya, who was stand-by goalkeeper for the Indian captain PR Sreejesh at the Olympics will also feature in the Team.
The 5 -men defense line-up has Varun Kumar, Gurinder Singh and Vikramjit Singh as the lead names, while Nilakanta Sharma, Harjeet Singh, Santa Singh, Sumit and Manpreet will form the midfield. Forwards will see in the ranks, the talented Mandeep Singh whose performance at the FIH Champions Trophy earlier this year was lauded and Armaan Qureshi, Gurjant Singh, Parvinder Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Ajit Kumar Pandey.
This will be the first edition of the Australian Hockey League in a sense that it will feature international teams from India, Malaysia and New Zealand. Twelve teams including defending champions Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, India, Malaysian Tigers, Malaysian Blues and New Zealand Futures will fight for the title. Being the premier domestic hockey tournament of Australia, the AHL sees a wide range of top class athletes, playing for different teams.
Speaking about the importance of this tournament, the Indian coach Harendra Singhsaid, “Ahead of the upcoming Junior World Cup to be held in India in December 2016, this is will a very good exposure event for our boys. This is the first time we have been invited for the AHL and we hope to make the best use of the opportunity.”
29 September 2016 will see India Junior Men Hockey Team up against the Malaysian Blues in the opener of the league. The matches will be live streamed on www.Epicentre.tv for last two days of the competition – Friday 7th and Sunday 9th October – showing eight matches; the men’s and women’s semi-finals, bronze medal and gold medal games.