The selection of Shilanand lakra, a cadet of SAIl Hockey Academy of SAIl, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), in the Men’s Under-23 India Hockey team for the upcoming 6-Nation Tournament has brought cheer to the steel city and the State.
The tournament will be played at Belgium from July 14 to 21. Alongside India, the tournament will feature Ireland, Great Britain, Netherland, Canada and hosts Belgium. Besides, Pankaj Kumar Rajak, an alumnus of the SAIl Hockey Academy too has got a berth in the Indian squad in the above tournament.
Notably, Shilanand who plays in the forward line already made a debut in the Senior Indian Hockey Squad when he represented India in the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Tournament which was played at Ipoh, Malaysia in March 2018. He scored his first international goal in the match against England which helped India hold England to a 1-1 draw in the tournament. He was also part of the Junior National Team that won the Bronze Medal at Sultan of Johor Cup held in Malaysia in October 2017.
It is worth mentioning here that, Shilanand, a resident of Kalijapathar village of Sundargarh district had joined the SAIl Hockey Academy in August 2015. Since then he has been learning the nuances of hockey from veterans like Raju Kant Saini a NIS (National institute of Sports) coach as well as Peter Tirkey, former national junior India hockey player, who is the hockey coach of RSP.
