Surendra Soren
Ranchi
Hockey India has announced the 10-member Indian men’s and women’s squads for the Youth Hockey 5s Asian Championship 2026, with six players from Jharkhand earning national team selection.
The tournament will be held in Muscat, Oman, from July 20 to 25.
Five players from Jharkhand have been selected in the women’s team—Sandipa Kumari, Pushpa Manjhi, Shruti Kumari, Neelam Topno and Khilli Kumari—while Ashish Tani Purti has been named in the men’s squad.
The selections were made based on the players’ performances in the ongoing national coaching camps. The women’s camp is being held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, from July 4 to 18, while the men’s camp is underway in Chandigarh.
All five selected women players from Jharkhand were already part of the 15-member sub-junior national preparatory group training in Bhopal.
Hockey Jharkhand president Bholanath Singh congratulated the selected players and said the inclusion of six players from the state reflects the strong grassroots development of hockey in Jharkhand through the joint efforts of the state government and Hockey Jharkhand.
Jharkhand has also maintained a strong presence in other national squads. Four players from the state are currently part of the Indian junior women’s team’s exposure tour of the United Kingdom, while four Jharkhand players have also been selected in the senior Indian women’s squad for the upcoming Asian Games.
With these selections, a total of 13 women players from Jharkhand are currently part of India’s senior, junior and sub-junior national teams, underlining the state’s growing stature as one of the country’s leading hockey talent hubs.
