Indian hockey defender Anand Lakra confident of retaining the Junior Johor Cup

Lakra was felicitated last year by the Rourkela Steel Plant – he is a cadet of the SAIL Hockey Academy there

Indian junior men’s hockey defender Anand Lakra has assured that the junior team is confident of retaining the upcoming 5th edition of the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia. The Indian team is due to play the 6-nation tournament from 11th October to 18th October 2015 in Johor Bahru, capital of the Malaysian state of Johor.

The junior Indian team will be looking to win their 3rd straight title at the Johor Cup after winning the last two editions at the same venue and will be the first team to achieve this feat.

19-year old Lakra has expressed his joy in representing the nation at the international level and said, "I am very confident of the team’s chances of winning the tournament again as most of the players are the same from the last edition. Our team is improving gradually and rectifying our problem areas in a planned manner,” reports Hockey India.

He stressed the need for closing down the gaps at the back in order to blunt down the opposition attacks and successfully defend against the higher ranked teams.

“As the tournament will be tougher from previous year, we will have to fill up the gaps and strengthen the defence structure of our team as defence will play a more dynamic role in attack,” Lakra added.

“We are definite to retain the title”

Earlier in his career, Lakra represented the Odisha team which won the sub-Junior national hockey championship held at Rohtak in November 2012. He also represented the Odisha team at the Junior National Hockey Championships in 2013 and 2014.

He was bought by the Kalinga Lancers franchise for his base price of US$8,000 in the upcoming edition of the Hockey India League, and will be rubbing shoulders with the most expensive German international, Moritz Fürste.

The Odisha-based player concluded, “We are satisfied with our performance in the preparation camp and definite to retain the title.”

The junior Blues team will have to face the likes of Pakistan, Malaysia, Great Britain, Argentina and Australia in order to defend the title for the straight second time. The inaugural match will see the junior teams from Australia and Argentina clash in what spectators hope will be a fierce encounter between the two big shots of hockey. The Blues will start their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in the next encounter on the opening day.