Two Manipur players make it to Hockey squads for Tokyo Olympics

IMPHAL: The men's hockey team for the Tokyo Olympics was announced by the Hockey India on Friday.

The 26-year-old Nilakanta Sharma, a midfielder from Manipur is the hockey player from the state to make the Indian men's hockey team's final selection for the Tokyo Olympics.

Nilakanta is one of ten debutants in the Indian men’s hockey team’s 16-member roster.

Besides Nilakanta, the nine players who will make their Olympic debut in Tokyo are Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.

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Goalkeeper Sreejesh, midfielder Manpreet, defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, and Surender Kumar, and striker Mandeep Singh are the seasoned ampaigners. These players were members of the previous Olympic team that competed in Rio de Janeiro.

Meanwhile, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, 29, player from Manipur is the lone woman hockey player from the state to make the Indian women's hockey team's final selection for the Tokyo Olympics.

Sushila is one of 13 Indian Railways women hockey players who have been picked for the national squad to compete in the 2018 Olympic Games.

The final list of the 16-member women's squad for the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held in July-August this year was announced on Thursday by Hockey India.

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According to Hockey India, the 16-member team includes eight players who competed for India in the Rio Olympics and eight more who are making their Olympic debut.

The Chief Minister of Manipur N.Biren Singh congratulated both the players on social media and wrote, “ Congratulations Pukhrambam Sushila Chanu and Nilakanta Sharma on making it to India’s Women and Men’s Hockey squad respectively for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic. I’m very proud that many young athletes from Manipur will be representing our country in the world stage. I wish you all the best and may your hard work and dedication bring laurels to the Nation.

Sushila Chanu hails from Thangmeiband and Nilakanta Sharma hails from Ahallup which happens to be my constituency."

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