Hockey Junior World Cup: Manpreet Singh shares captaincy tips with Vivek Prasad

The Indian men's junior hockey team commence their Hockey Men's Junior World Cup title defense on November 24 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

The defending champions will start their campaign facing France in their opening match. The Indian junior hockey team received a major boost in their preparations when they played practice matches against the Indian men's senior hockey team.

Indian senior men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and ace goalkeeper PR Sreejesh reflected their thoughts on the team's preparedness.

Having donned the captain's armband for quite some time, Manpreet Singh shared the nuances of captaincy with junior team captain Vivek Sagar Prasad. Manpreet said:

"I have spoken to Vivek many times. I told him the main thing for them is to remain as a team. Winning and losing is part of the game. But when we lose, there is a tendency to point fingers, but I told him that the team should not do that, and just focus on your game, and just stay as a team. That would help win every match."

Indian junior hockey team can defend title, say veterans

Sreejesh said the Indian junior hockey team has a lot of potential to defend their title and lauded their preparation.

"The team has been doing fantastic over the last couple of months in Bengaluru. We played a couple of games against them. They seemed ready to start the tournament."

Manpreet Singh said the team is poised to reach the final and even win the World Cup. He said:

"They beat us in one of the games we played. I am pretty confident they have the ability to reach the final and if they continue to play as a team throughout the tournament, they can win the trophy,"

Sreejesh said the Indian players will miss the fans at the Hockey Men's Junior World Cup. However, he added that playing at the iconic Kalinga Stadium will be a good learning experience for the young team.

"I think the players will miss playing in front of the big crowd. It's the beauty of the Kalinga Stadium, the cheers, the sound, they will miss that. Still, I feel the atmosphere will help them to perform really well and will be a big learning experience."