LUCKNOW, Nov. 15 -- Uttar Pradesh has played a significant role in the development and success of junior men's hockey in India, contributing a rich legacy of talented players to the national scene. The state has a hockey heritage, producing some of India's most celebrated hockey legends, including the iconic Major Dhyan Chand and Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu, who were born in Uttar Pradesh and led India to three Olympic gold medals. The legacy continued even in 1979 when as many as nine players, all from the state government-run hockey hostels, went on representing India in an international event for junior and thereafter in 1981, top four players of that era, including Ravinderpal, Mohd Shahid, Zafar Iqbal and Syed Ali, represented India in the Senior Men's World Cup Hockey. In the 2023 edition of the Junior World Cup, once again four players Uttam Singh, Shardanand Tiwari, Aamir Ali and Saurabh Anand Kushwaha represented India, who finished fourth, at Bhubaneswar. The supply chain of talented hockey players from Uttar Pradesh continued to make its impact once again as on Friday when four players i.e. Shardanand Tiwari, Aamir Ali, Saurabh Anand Kushwaha and Ajeet Yadav made it to the India team for the FIH Junior Men's World Cup, scheduled to be played from November 28 to December 11 at Madurai and Chennai. "In the last two years, things have changed a lot for me especially as now I feel more matured and confident," said Lucknow-boy Shardanand Tiwari while expressing happiness on his selection for the consecutive World Cups. "In my first Junior World Cup in 2023 in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, I was new to many things, but thereafter, I got so many changes in myself, including expertise in drag flicking and even tackling of the ball in defence," said Tiwari as India had a fourth-place finish in that edition. He, however, expressed confidence in teams' overall performance at the upcoming edition on the home turf. "Home advantage would be an added advantage to us and at the camp here at Bengaluru, we have done our homework quite well" he said, adding, "I am ready to give my best shot this time," he added. It is learnt that after making their maiden podium finish at the 1997 edition of the Junior World Cup, when India won silver, losing to hosts Australia at Milton Keynes, India won their maiden title at the 2001 edition at Hobart, defeating Argentina 6-1 in the final. And after making a fourth-place finish in 2005, India retained the trophy in 2016 here in Lucknow. "We will try to make a podium finish this time too and I would be happy if I come back home with the winners trophy," added Tiwari. Uttar Pradesh Hockey's chief and chief selector of Hockey India, RP Singh, said that hockey isn't only a sport but a way of living for young sportspersons in the state. "In recent years, Uttar Pradesh has demonstrated its strength in junior men's hockey by winning prestigious national championships as our boys won the 12th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship by defeating Chandigarh in 2022," he said. "This success continues a trend as Uttar Pradesh also won the 11th edition of the Junior National Men's Hockey Championship in 2021 and these victories highlight the consistent and substantial contributions of Uttar Pradesh players to the junior hockey circuit in India," he added. UPH's secretary and former India captain, Rajneesh Mishra, admired the hard work being put in by the Uttar Pradesh players in all age groups. "This isn't the first time when UP has a major share in India team, but many of our seniors too have been part of the Indian team and back-to-back bronze medals at the Olympics by our own Lalit Kumar Upadhyay have been the living example of UP's consistent influence in Indian hockey," he said....