Young guns ready to roar
- Rourkela: Even as India earned an easy win against Ger many in the opener of the mini- tournament of FIH Pro League at Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Friday, it was the youngsters in the side who played a vital role for the hosts.
- While five players from the junior team have made the cut for the Pro League squad, three of them - Pawan, Karthi Selvam and Ravichandran Marianthi-made the cut for the game on Friday.
- And Pawan, a goalkeeper, and Karthi, a forward, did quite well, to say the least. Although he conceded a goal, Pawan played two quarters alternately with PR Shreejesh and made some crucial saves as India held on for a win. Speaking after the match he was expectedly quite thrilled.
- "This is a new experience for me playing in front of such a big crowd, but the positive thing is since it's at home I didn't feel any pressure. I wanted to stay cool and calm and whatever the result I wanted to give my 100%," said the young goalkeeper, who made his debut during the Pro League last year against the Netherlands in Rotterdam which the visitors lost 1-2.
- A huge fan of Shreejesh, its player from Hisar, Haryana, got this time with India's other regular goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak taking leave for the side. his marriage. And he's hoping to make the most of it in the remaining matches.
- As for Karthi, he caught everyone's attention during the Pro League matches in November, and on Friday he once again put on a delightful show and even helped Sukhjeet Singh score the third goal of the match. Asked what it's like to make a comeback into the side, the player from Tamil Nadu said, "It's always good to play for the national side. I couldn't make the cut for the World Cup squad, but I will give my best this time around."
- The only player from Tamil Nadu in the national team after a gap of 13 years, Karthi didn't have it easy and faced the langue age problem after making it to the India junior camp. Besides that, there were financial difficulties also.
- Manipur's Ravichandran also faced a lot of hardships in his youth but that didn't stop him from continuing his dream. He has already made a name for himself in the team undergoing a transition following the World Cup debacle and has got a good chance to seal his spot in the side.
- The duo has been playing A together for quite a while now and it will be special if they get to make the cut together: "Making it into the national camp was the most difficult part because no one had made it to the camp from Army Boys in the past. However, I never gave up in front of his school. and kept up the hard work," said Manjeet, who took up the game after watching others.