Vivek, Salima to lead Indian hockey teams at Youth Olympic qualifiers

New Delhi:  Hockey India (HI)on Monday announced Vievek Sagar Prasad and Salima Tete as skippers of the junior men and women’s teams respectively for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games qualifiers starting April 25 in Bangkok.
Vivek, who is currently representing the senior men’s side at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG), will lead the nine-member junior Team while Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem will be his deputy.
On the other hand, Lalremsiami, who is also in Gold Coast with the senior women’s team, will shoulder the responsibility of vice-captain for the women’s team.
The men’s team will kick off their Youth Olympic qualifier campaign against hosts Thailand on the opening day, while the women will begin their campaign against Singapore on the same day.
Commenting on the forthcoming tour, HI High Performance Director David John said: “The teams are currently training in Agra at the five-a-side Hockey Facility.”
“For some of the athletes this will be their first major international exposure, we also have players who have the experience of playing for the senior Indian teams and will certainly be able to share their knowledge of international expectations with the rest of them,” he added.
Significantly, the five-day long event is a qualifying event for Youth Olympic Games 2018 to be held at Buenos Aires, which will follow the futuristic Hockey 5’s format.
Teams: Junior men:
Goalkeeper: Prashant Kumar Chauhan
Defenders: Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem (Vice Captain), Sanjay
Midfielders: Vivek Sagar Prasad (Captain), Shivam Anand, Rahul Kumar Rajbhar, Yashdeep Siwach
Forwards: Mohd. Alishan, Maninder Singh.
Junior women:
Goalkeeper: Bichu Devi Kharibam
Defenders: Salima Tete (Captain), Ishika Chaudhary
Midfielders: Baljeet Kaur, Chetna
Forwards: Sangita Kumari, Mumtaz Khan, Deepika (Jr.), Lalremsiami (Vice Captain).(IANS)