FIH Hockey5s World Cup: Gurjot Singh, Gursewak Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Prince Deep Singh from Roundglass Punjab Hockey Academy have been selected to the Indian junior men’s hockey team that will tour Europe between May 20 and 29. Gursewak, Prince Deep and Arshdeep will be playing in the national team for the first time.
The Indian junior men’s hockey team will be playing matches in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as part of Hockey India’s initiative to help the team gain exposure and build on experience.
The 19-year-old Gurjot Singh, who hails from Nakoder in Jalandhar, was earlier part of the Indian senior side that finished fifth in the FIH Hockey5s World Cup held in Oman.
Gursewak Singh comes from Batala and has been with the Academy since 2021. The 17-year-old has been performing at the highest level in the national junior circuit and will debut for the National side.
The Pathankot-born goalkeeper, Prince Deep Singh, joined the Academy in 2022 and the 19-year-old will look to impress between the posts in Europe. The 19-year-old Arshdeep Singh, who hails from Amritsar, will look to spearhead the attacking line of the junior national side.
Sharing his thoughts on the selection, Dronacharya award winner, Olympic gold medallist and Technical Lead of Roundglass Punjab Hockey Academy, Rajinder Singh, hailed their selection in the junior national team.
“The selection of Gurjot, Gursewak, Arshdeep and Prince Deep is a result of the hard work put in by everyone at the Academy. We always focus on the development of grassroots players, and we believe that in the coming years, we will be sending many more athletes from our Academy to play on the national side. I wish all four boys good luck and hope they perform their best during the tour,” he said.
The Indian team will play its first match on May 20 against Belgium in Antwerp, Belgium before playing the same opponents in Breda, Netherlands on May 22.
The Indian junior men’s hockey team will then play the Netherlands’ Club team Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push in Breda on May 23 followed by a game against Germany on May 28 in Germany. After that, they will return to Breda to play Germany again on May 29 in the final match of the tour.