5 Indian origin players to represent USA in the Junior Men's Hockey World Cup

Several national teams have started arriving for the Junior Hockey World Cup set to take place in Bhubaneshwar this month. There is much excitement given that India is hosting a tournament and is also a favorite to win it as well. The U.S.A will be fielding a team with former Indian junior coach Harendra Singh set to coach the team from the sidelines. We take a look at all 5 of the Indian origin players who will be featuring from the American Junior National Hockey team.

Jatin Sharma, Mehtab Grewak, Gurcharan Johal, Amrinderpal Singh, and Shomik Chakraborty will be the 5 Indian origin players who will play for the U.S team this year. Incidentally, Jatin Sharma's father was a player himself who began coaching teams in California when he shifted there for work several years ago. His son picked up the sport subsequently and was coached by his father before making it to the National team. They are centered around San Francisco and his dad founded two Hockey clubs namely the Hayward Hawks and 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 featured for the Men's Senior team already given that they have performed well at the junior level. Their entire world cup campaign has been funded through personal donations and fundraisers. The reason for this is that field or turf hockey is not that popular in America and hence does not get the attention and necessary funding required for it to progress. The senior team gets considerable funding but junior players have to rely on their families and donors to sustain foreign trips for tournaments.