Junior Hockey WC 2016: Team eager for a good start, insists England manager

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Dec. 3 : On their arrival for the Hockey Junior World Cup Men 2016, England Team Manager Paul Gannon expressed that his team is eager to get started with the tournament.

"Our preparations have been good and we recently played the Johor Bahru Cup in Malaysia. We are a strong unit and we will be looking at starting the tournament with a win against South Africa so we can carry that momentum to our second game against India," said Paul Gannon.

England have played India earlier this year during the India's Tour of England where India won two matches and lost two games.

On asked about his thoughts on the Indian team he said, "India are a good side and we look forward to a good game against them on December 10.

India are a very dominant country when it comes to world hockey and the boys are excited to play here." Yesterday, the Canadian hockey team landed at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport and interestingly, the team includes 12 players of Indian origin.

"It's great to have these young boys who want to carry forward their legacy and family heritage of playing hockey.

The team captain's grandfather has played for Uganda in the Olympics while his father has played junior hockey for Canada.

And while they are of Indian origin, they take great pride in playing for Canada," said team coach Inderpal Sehmbi.

While Canada will begin their campaign against India on December 8, England will play the hosts on December 10 in a match that promises to be an exciting encounter.

Source: ANI