Diwakar to lead 16-member squad for Sydney hockey meet

New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) Diwakar Ram will lead a 16-member squad for the under-21 four-nation hockey Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney from Jan 14.

Sixteen players and five standbys were selected for the meet after trials in Bhopal.

All the 21 players were in the squad that won the Test series in Argentina earlier this month. But according to tournament norms only 16 were retained for the Sydney meet.

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, Mohammed Amir Khan, Dharamvir Singh. Standbys: Hari Kripal Yadav, Jagwant Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Karamjit Singh, Mohammed Asif Khan.

Chief coach: A.K. Bansal, Manager: Rajiv Mehta, Coach: Clarence Lobo, Physiotherapist: R.C. Trivedi.