Dipsan Tirkey to lead Indian hockey colts at 6-Nation tourney

Dipsan Tirkey will lead the 18-member junior men's hockey team while Hardik Singh will serve as his deputy in the upcoming Six-Nation Tournament, which is slated to begin from July 14 in Anterp, Belgium.

The Indian team is scheduled to play a total of five round-robin matches against Ireland, Great Britain, Belgium, Malaysia and Netherlands.

The top two teams at the end of the round-robin matches will face each other in the final on July 21 whereas the remaining teams will play classification matches.

Hockey India high-performance director, David John, said that the tournament will be a good test for the youngsters as they will be playing against best teams around the world.

"The U-23 Six Nations Tournament in Belgium will prove to be a good test for our younger players of the Core Group. We will be playing against some of the best youth teams from around the world, which will help in giving our players the exposure they require. This tour will also help in developing our team that will take part in the 8th Sultan of Johor Cup 2018 to be held in October later this year," John said.

"It will be a crucial tournament for some of the athletes as this will be their first major international exposure, but the majority of the players have represented the junior/ senior Men's Team which is always a good sign," he added.

The Indian team will play their opening match against Ireland on July 14.

The full squad is as follow:

Goalkeepers- Pankaj Kumar Rajak and Prashant Kumar Chauhan

Defenders- Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Pardeep Singh, Mandeep Mor, Somjeet and Mohd. Faraz

Midfielders- Hardik Singh, Dharminder Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Vishal Antil and Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem

Forwards- Shilanand Lakra, Abhishek, Abharan Sudev Belimagga, Mohammed Raheel Mouseen and Mohammad Umar.