Printed Article: Courtesy: Tribune, Chandigarh

New Delhi, December 27: Ace drag flicker Diwakar Ram was today retained captain of the 16-member Indian U-21 hockey team which will take part in the ‘Australian Youth Olympic Festival’ four-nation tournament to be held at Sydney from January 14 to 18.

Diwakar had led the junior side to just concluded four-match test series against World champion Argentina.

India won that series 1-0 besides beating Holland 3-2 in a one off test.

Other teams taking part in the tournament are Australia, Britain and Malaysia.

All matches will be played at the Olympic Stadium, Sydney.

The Team: Goalkeepers: Mrinal Chaubey, C Santosh Kumar.

Full Backs: Diwakar Ram (Capt), Innocent Kullu, Manjeet Kullu Midfielders: Birender Lakra, Vivek, Vikas Sharma, Belsajar Horo, Amardeep Ekka.

Forwards: Pramod Kumar, Mandip Antil, Jay Karan, Danish Mujtaba, Mohd Amir Khan and Dharamvir Singh Standbyes: Hari Kripal Yadav, Jagwant Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Karamjit Singh, Mohd Asif Khan.

According to the Convenor Ad Hoc Committee Mohd Aslam Khan, the team’s participation in this tournament is to provide it the maximum competition and exposure for the team before the Junior World Cup at Singapore and Malaysia in June next year. The team will depart for Sydney on January 9. — UNI