Harjeet Singh to lead India at Junior Hockey WC 2016

Harjeet Singh will lead the 18-member Indian junior men's team which will be vying for top honours at the forthcoming Junior Hockey World Cup beginning on December 8 here in the state capital.

The 20-year-old mid-fielder from Kurali in Punjab has been instrumental in the junior team's success in recent times. He also led the team in Valencia, Spain last month where they won the Four Nations Invitational Tournament beating Germany in the Final.

Earlier this year, he was also named the 'Jugraj Singh Upcoming Player of the Year (Men - 21)' at the Hockey India Annual Awards and was rewarded for his consistency with a call-up for the senior men's squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in April where the team finished second behind World Champions Australia.

Harjeet was also part of the Indian senior men's team that won the silver medal at the FIH Champions Trophy in London this year where he filled in for stalwart Indian midfielder Sardar Singh.

"Harjeet has special abilities in terms of keeping the team together and motivated them which is a rare thing in players of this age. Those are the features we always look for in a Captain. Dipsan too shows qualities of a leader and has done consistently well in the buildup to the World Cup," stated coach Roelant Oltmans.

Meanwhile, defender Dipsan Tirkey will shoulder the responsibilities of the vice-captain.

Tirkey, 18-year-old from Sundargarh in Odisha, had led the Indian team to a splendid win at the EurAsia Cup in Russia earlier this year followed by the England Tour where they beat the Scotland senior men's team.