Two hockey players, Arshdeep Singh and Princedeep Singh, graduates of the Malwa Hockey Academy in Ludhiana, have been called up to join the Indian junior men’s hockey team. The European tour starts from May 18th to May 31st.
Arshdeep Singh, 19, a student of Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar from Lohaka village in Amritsar, is a national junior champion inspired by his Brother, national hockey champion Yugraj Singh.
Center player Arshdeep participated in the U-21 category of the Indian Khero Games and won the silver medal in 2019, the bronze medal in 2021 and the gold medal in 2023. He was also awarded the title of ‘Best Player’ of the 2023 Khelo India Games. He played his last inter-university match for Guru Nanak Dev University and his team emerged victorious.
Arshdeep is the son of a farmer and now has his sights set on the Olympics. Talking about the support from his family, Ashdeep said: “I first came into contact with the game when I was in school and from then on, nothing could stop me. I then got selected for the Malwa Hockey Academy where I Nearly four years of training.”
Princedeep Singh, a resident of Pathankot district, is an undergraduate student of sports at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, and is preparing for selection for the Youth World Cup to be held in December 2025.
Princedeep joined Malwa Academy in 2017 and was injured in 2019 and did not play for two consecutive years. “The person I trust the most is my coach Sukhvir Singh, who motivated me during my lowest moments and kept me in the academy even though I didn’t contribute anything to the team during those years,” Pu said. Linsdeep said.
He recently won a silver medal in the inter-university championship and a bronze medal at the Khelo India Games 2023.
A team of 40 players was selected during the trials in December last year, out of which only 20 players were selected for the tour, six of whom were from Punjab. The players are currently training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training center in Bengaluru to prepare for the five matches of the tour against Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.