Bhubaneshwar: Several national teams have begun to arrive in Bhubaneshwar for the Junior Hockey World Cup, which will be held later this month. There is indeed a lot of anticipation considering India is hosting a tournament and is also the defending champion.
The United States of America will field a squad, with former Indian junior coach Harendra Singh set to coach from the sidelines, and five Indian-origin players set to compete for them this year: Jatin Sharma, Mehtab Grewak, Gurcharan Johal, Amrinderpal Singh, and Shomik Chakraborty.
In fact, Jatin Sharma’s father was a player who began coaching teams in California after moving there for employment some years ago. His kid later picked up the sport and was trained by his father before joining the National team. They are based in San Francisco, and his father formed two hockey teams, the Hayward Hawks and the Stanford Lightning Youth Field Hockey Club.
The other Indian-origin players hail from Washington DC, Arizona, and other towns in California.
Shomik Chakraborty and Jatin Sharma have already played for the Men’s Senior squad after excelling at the youth level.
