Indian youngster Yuvraj Walmiki roped in senior line-up for Asian Champion Trophy
Indian youngster Yuvraj Walmiki has been succeeded to get a place in the national team for the upcoming maiden version of the Asian Champion Trophy scheduled to be held in Chinese city of Ordos from September 3 to 11.
It will be a dream situation for Yuvraj Walmiki who impressed the selectors with his brilliant moves in the trials and Senior National Championship held in Bhopal. The young player put in a brilliant performance during the trials to impress the coach to
help in getting a spot in the senior line up of the Indian side. The selection committee picked up Walmiki – the attacking player for Air India.
Besides India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and the host China will be other teams in the first version of the Asian Champions Trophy where Walmiki will have a great opportunity to learn new techniques.
While speaking to the media about his selection in the national side, Walmiki expressed pleasure and gratitude for Indian Coach Michael Nobbs and the selection committee who provided him chance to prove his worth in the international hockey.
He stated, “I just kept working hard as for the last 11 years — since I started playing hockey — I’ve been dreaming of earning a call-up to the senior side. Having achieved that now, I want to maintain that.”
Walmiki belonged to a humble family resided in Mumbai. He started playing hockey on the advice of his friend when he was only 10-years-old. After realising natural talent, he started paying more attention to the sport to hone his skills under the training
of MJ Patil. Before getting inducted for Air India, he donned the colours for Bank of India a few times.
He continued his effort from last five years in order to build himself a hockey star. Explaining the circumstances of his start, he stated that he had no capability to purchase a pair of shoes. He applauded the role of his friends namely Joachim Carvalho
and Viren Rasquinha who helped them a lot in the early stages. He further said, “The Air India move changed my life. I never imagined I would earn Rs 10,000 a month at 17. That gave me the confidence I needed.”
Indian Coach Michael Nobbs described Walmiki as a wonderful and confident player. The trainer was of the view that such players could play important role for putting the country in right track to earn the past glory. The youngster impressed him a lot when
they were trying to learn new pattern of scoring and he notched the goal when seniors failed to do, Nobbs added.
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