Poonam to lead girls' U-18 Asia Cup hockey team

Poonam Rani will lead an 18-member Indian squad for the third Girls' Under-18 Asia Cup hockey, in Bangkok, Thailand, from September 16-25.

India is placed in Pool B, with China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.

Pool A comprises Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Chinese Taipei.

The Indian squad has two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and six forwards.

B K Subramani is the chief coach, and N S Saini and Pritam Siwach the assistant coaches.

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Bigan Soy, Swati

Defenders: Jaspreet Kaur, Sandeep Kaur, Apoorva Vishwakarma, Balvinder Kaur Mehra, Deep Grace Ekka

Midfielders: Poonam Rani (C), Neha, Namita Toppo, Nikki Pradhan, Shivani Bisht.

Forwards: Neha Goyal, Navjot Kaur, Surabhi Pradhan, Anupa Barla, Nilima Minz, Renuka Rajputaini.

Standbys: M Kiran Devi, Sonam Bhardwaj, D S Harnakshi.

Manager: Dr Shobha Singh

Chief Coach: B.K.Subramani

Asst. Coach: N.S.Saini, Pritam Siwach

Match schedule:

Sept 6: India v Kazakhstan

Sept 17: India v Sri Lanka

Sept 20: India v China

Sept 22: India v Malaysia

Sept 22: Semi-final, classification matches

Sept 25: Third place and final.