Bhubaneswar: Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Vivek Sagar Prasad was on Thursday named as captain of the 18-member Indian team that will defend its title at the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup be held at Bhubaneswar from November 24th. The event, slated to end on December 5th, will witness 16 teams from across the globe. Hockey India on Thursday named the 18-member Indian junior men’s hockey team for the event with Vivek Sagar Prasad as captain and defender Sanjay, who was part of the India U-18 team that won silver at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires, as vice-captain.

Hockey player Vivek Sagar has made Madhya Pradesh proud including Narmadanchal by getting two achievements in a week.DSP Vivek Sagar Prasad, son of Chandaun village of Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh will captain. 18 players have been selected for the team. Vivek Sagar is the only player from Madhya Pradesh in the team. Team India will play Hockey World Cup under the leadership of Vivek Sagar. Vivek arrived in Delhi to receive the Arjuna Award, the best Arjuna Award to be received in the field of sports will be given by the President in Delhi on November 13.

The Olympics have proven that the spectacle of hockey can still be enjoyed by everyone involved,” Reid said. India starts their campaign on November 24th against France and will take on Canada on the next day in the round-robin league. Their last league match in the 4-team pool will be against Poland on November 27th. The top 2 teams from the preliminary round groups will qualify for the knockout quarterfinals, which will be played on December 1st. Among the other teams in the fray are Belgium, The Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, France, Chile, Spain, and the USA.