NEW DELHI: India on Friday named an 18-member junior men’s hockey team for the six-nation Volvo International U-21 Tournament to be played in the Netherlands from July 18 to 25.

The tournament will be played in round-robin format. Apart from India, other participating nations are hosts the Netherlands, Germany, England, Belgium and New Zealand.

The Volvo International Tournament will provide a testing platform to the U-21 men’s team, who are even gearing up for the upcoming Junior Asian Cup in Malaysia and next year’s FIH Junior World Cup.

The 18-member squad was selected following a preparatory camp here last month.

The Indian colts will be captained by promising midfielder Harjeet Singh while defender Dipsan Tirkey has been named as the vice-captain. The team will be coached by Harendra Singh.

Most of the selected players have the experience of playing international tournaments and were part of the champion team of last year’s Sultan of Johor Cup.

India will open their campaign in the tournament against Germany.

“This is a very energetic and talented team as most have the capability of implementing strategies on the field and experience of playing under tremendous pressure,” Indian junior team coach Harendra Singh said.

“The preparatory camp was very fruitful. Most of the players in the squad have international experience and this I think will help in the upcoming tournament.”

The Volvo International U-21 tournament will be held in Breda, the Netherlands.

Team:

Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Suraj Karkera

Defenders: Vikramjit Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Baljit Singh, Anand Lakra

Midfielders: Santa Singh, Manpreet, Nilakanta Sharma, Harjeet Singh, Ajay Yadav

Forwards: Sumit Kumar, Armaan Qureshi, Parvinder Singh, Gurjant Singh, Simranjeet Singh.