The boys and girls team of the state of Maharashtra has been announced for the Western regional junior group hockey tournament held at Rajnandgaon in the state of Chhattisgarh. Nagpur’s Vishal Mandade and Kolhapur’s Sanika Mane have been entrusted with the captaincy of the team.
The Maharashtra boys hockey team will participate in the all-play-all league format. The Maharashtra team will face Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Rajasthan, Hockey Chhattisgarh, Hockey Gujarat, and Hockey Goa. The top two boys’ teams will play in the finals.
The matches in the girl’s group will be held in two groups. The matches will be played in a league-come-elimination format with the top-two teams in each group aiming to qualify for the semi-finals. Hockey Maharashtra has been placed in Pool-B along with Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Diu and Daman, Goa Hockey and Hockey Rajasthan.
A 15-day selection-cum-conditioning camp for both the Maharashtra teams was held at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, Nehrunagar-Pimpri under the supervision of Olympians Ajit Lakra and Vikram Pillay.
Maharashtra’s Boys Hockey Team: Vedant Rahate (Mumbai), Sahil Vaidya (Wardha), Gaurav Patil (Kolhapur), Gopal Metkar (Nanded), Ravi Bharadiya (Mumbai), Harsh Rakshe (Mumbai), Chiristiano Correa (Mumbai), Piyush Gaikwad ( Satara), Sean DeMello (Mumbai), Santosh Birajdar (Sangli), Ranjyot Singh Hazuria (Nanded), Shankar Kusale (Pune), Arjun Hargude (Pune), Vishal Mandade (Nagpur, captain), Swayam Gangurde (Mumbai), Karthik Pathare ( Ahmednagar), Shubham Jadhav (Kolhapur), Ayan Pagedar (Pune). Coach : Muthanna BK (Mumbai), Manager : Aniket More (Kolhapur).
Maharashtra’s Girls team: Vaishnavi Khandare (Kolhapur), Rishika Navalkha (Pune), Mahi Chaudhary (Pune), Gauri Kolpe (Sangli), Akansha Pal (Mumbai), Siddhi Gawli (Pune), Sanjana Khetwat (Pune), Archa Sasidharan (Pune). , Asmita Ghotle (Sangli), Jyuthika Bodkhe (Nagpur), Savitri Borgalli (Kolhapur), Wilona Rodrigues (Mumbai), Saima Tamboli (Sangli), Sukanya Davre (Pune), Tanushree Kadu (Yavatmal), Khushi (Mumbai), Sanika Mane (Kolhapur, captain), Z Lalrintluangi Z. Humingchungnunga (Mumbai). Coach: Vaishali Sul (Pune), Manager: Harsha Ingle (Yavatmal)
