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Ahead of Indias final against Belgium at the junior hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Sunday, ESPN introduces three players who seem to have done enough during the tournament to merit consideration for selection to the senior team. Across defence, midfield and attack, Varun Kumar, Santa Singh and Armaan Qureshi have formed the spine of the team. They spoke to us before the tournament and here is their journey in their own words.First influencesThere was nobody in my family who played hockey, but [India international and captain at the 2013 junior World Cup] Manpreet Singh and I are schoolmates. He began playing hockey before me and suggested I take up the sport. So, inspired by Manpreet, I began playing in Mithapur, my village. - VarunI started playing hockey because of the atmosphere in my village. [Indian midfielder] Sardar Singh also hails from there. One of my uncles was a very good hockey player and his son used to play hockey. He would often visit us, and one day I accompanied him to the ground and decided to start playing hockey. Ive always followed Sardar, and thats the reason I play in midfield. - SantaMy uncle Hasrat played for India, and he became my inspiration to start playing hockey. There used to be hockey camps in our school during summer vacations. Thats where I started playing for the first time. I also played cricket and pursued it quite seriously for a while. Then one day, they laid a new AstroTurf pitch in Gwalior, where I live. After that I started playing hockey quite seriously. - ArmaanBest coaching adviceWhen I started playing hockey, [former India captain] Pargat Singh gave me a lot of motivation. He would come to the ground and tell us about how to practise, what to eat. Whatever he learnt playing for India, he would pass on to the rest of us. - VarunThe coach at my hostel [former India international and Sardar Singhs older brother Didar Singh] used to support me a lot. He always told me that in modern hockey you must always look up while playing. Training under Harendra Singh [head coach of the junior team] has also been good, because he varies it up all the time. This prevents it from getting monotonous. - SantaI went to the Madhya Pradesh Academy in 2007, and my coach there was [former Olympian and Dhyan Chands son] Ashok Kumar. Then in 2013, I joined Air India, and my coach there was [former India captain] Dhanraj Pillay. Ive been fortunate with the coaching Ive had all these years. The one thing theyve all taught me is that you cannot give up. If you arent able to do something perfectly, then you must keep working at it till you achieve it. - ArmaanKey to success in hockeyThe most important attribute for a good defender is to have patience. You must know how to defend against an opposition forward and how to finish their moves. These qualities define a good defender. - VarunIt is tough to play against the Europeans. They tend to play with a lot of physicality. But our team now is very good. We tend to play with good fitness levels. Weve worked very hard on all major points. - SantaThere are parallels between football and hockey, especially in attacking patterns. The one-to-one passes and the attacks from the outside are more or less the same. I like [Lionel] Messi because of how he plays and the confidence with which he plays. On our first two tours, I wore jersey No. 29, but then when it was announced that everybody could put forward their favoured numbers, I went for No. 10. Hes not a player... hes a magician. - ArmaanUltimate goal in hockeyMy biggest ambition in life is to always give my best when playing and to play at the Olympics one day. - VarunThe junior World Cup is the main target for our entire group. Only after this can we think about what we want to achieve in life. The way that weve been performing at the junior level for the last couple of years, nothing less than gold will do. - Armaan Authentic Custom Dodgers Jersey . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Custom Dodgers Jerseys . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. http://www.customdodgersjersey.com/ . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. Wholesale Custom Dodgers Shirts . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Custom Dodgers Jersey China . Hey!" The lower tier of the School End of Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road was packed solid with a very festive-sounding Chelsea choral section in this particular part of South Africa Road London, W12.TORONTO -- Its been 10 months since the United States womens soccer team delivered a dagger into the hearts of Canadians at the London Olympics. It was clear Sunday that the wound is still fresh. The cheeky BMO Field fans loudly counted off every American goal kick. They booed when Canadian-born striker Sydney Leroux scored and then popped her American jersey at them. Alex Morgan scored twice and Leroux notched the third as the world No. 1-ranked United States defeated Canada 3-0 in a friendly that was anything but. And Canadas captain Christine Sinclair was less than impressed after the match. "Maybe not the classiest of moves," Sinclair said of Lerouxs gesture. "She scored on us, and an individual can do what they like. I probably wouldnt have done the same, but we move on." The game -- billed as "The Rematch" -- marked both the first meeting between the North American rivals since Canadas heartbreaking 4-3 loss to the U.S. in the Olympic semifinals, and the Canadians first game back home since they won bronze in London. The Olympic semifinal -- which will go down as one of the most memorable in Canadian soccer history -- turned on a controversial free kick, awarded when Norwegian referee Christina Pedersen determined Canadas keeper Erin McLeod took longer than the allowable six seconds to put the ball back into play. Sunday, 22,453 red and white-clad fans -- a record for a soccer game at BMO Field -- loudly counted off the seconds, sometimes to as high as 10, each time American keeper Nicole Barnhart took a goal kick. "It was unbelievable, eh?" Canadian coach John Herdman said, laughing. "There should have been about 20 free kicks, shouldnt there? Bring back the Norwegian referee, we would have been in heaven today." Morgan scored her first in the 70th minute when she cut inside defender Emily Zurrer, firing from the top left corner of the 18-yard box and slotting it past McLeod into the bottom right corner of the net. Morgans second goal came two minutes later from the identical spot. Leroux scored seconds before the final whistle when she ran in on a breakaway, placing the ball past McLeod. Leroux, who was born in Surrey, B.C., and once dated Toronto Blue Jays star Brett Lawrie, was booed throughout the game but never more so than after her goal. She put one finger to her lips to silence the fans. It didnt work. The 23-year-old bristled when asked about the hostile reception. "Come on ... how many American-born players do you have on Canada?" Leroux said (Canadian defender Lauren Sesselman was born in the U.S.). "I thought I dealt with it well." American veteran Abby Wambach defended her teammate. "If you knew some of things that Canadian folks tweet at her, that for her was a special moment, and that for her was saying, Hey look, Im here, Im on the U.S. team," Wambach said. "So for her, Im proud of her to come on in the time that she had." The crowd was arguably one of the most entertaining parts of the match in a sloppy affair that saw the Canadians sag after the first 70 minutes. "I was honestly dying laughing the entire time," McLeod said of the goal-kick count. "The crowd was awesome. I know Canadian fans sometimes are too friendly, but I dont think they were too friendly today." Addedd Sinclair: "We had heard they were going to do that, it was kind of funny.dddddddddddd The atmosphere is insane to play in front of. It was really neat, that part. "They cheered us on right to the end, right to when we got off the field, and as a team, were proud of our performance but disappointed for our fans that came out. Its tough to swallow a 3-0 defeat, even though it didnt feel like that." The Americans did a decent job of keeping Sinclair under wraps. The Canadian star finally got free for a decent shot on net in the 48th minute, but fired it over the net. Canadas best scoring chance came in the 90th minute when national team newcomer Tiffany Cameron had an open shot from just outside the six-yard box that she fired wide right of the net. At the other end of the field, 17-year-old rookie defender Kadeisha Buchanan -- the only starter who wasnt on last summers Olympic team -- showed why Herdman is such a big fan. "Shes unbelievable, Herdman said. "She owned Abby Wambach today. Sorry Abby. "Im proud of her, she shined a light today for any kid in this country to say, look, no matter what background you come from, you can play in front of 23,000, and play like that -- wow." Buchanan got in the way of what looked like a clean breakaway for Morgan in the first half. She cleared a ball off the goal-line a minute later. Sundays grudge match, the Canadian players had been saying all week, was as much about thanking their fans for the outpouring of support as it was about getting a result against their southern foe. BMO Field was a sea of red and white for the game that sold out in less than two hours. Young girls dressed in soccer jerseys, tiny Canadian flags tucked into their hairbands, filled the stands. It appeared there wasnt a person in the south grandstand that wasnt waving a Canadian flag. "Im proud that this is a rivalry, not too long ago it wasnt," Wambach said. "Not too long ago these games werent games we looked forward to, and now they are. Now theyre getting sold-out crowds, and I think that does nothing but push the womens game forward." Despite last summers result, the Canadians knew they were in tough against an American team whose victory Sunday stretched their winning streak to 36 games. The result was a reminder, Herdman said, of how far the team has to go before Canada hosts the 2015 FIFA womens World Cup. "I think what its done is lessened the expectations a bit. Lets just get some reality here, winning the World Cup in Canada is going to be one hell of a job," Herdman said. "Getting that bronze medal was like catching lightning in a bottle, but we did. And we can do it again." The Canadian women have an all-time record of three wins, five draws and now 45 losses in 53 international matches against the mighty Americans, and have never won at home, tying them once and losing six times in seven home matches dating back to 1990. Canada last beat the U.S. at the 2001 Algarve Cup, a 3-0 victory. NOTES: The Canadian womens next home game is Oct. 30 versus South Korea in Edmonton. The Canadians have three wins and a loss against South Korea dating back to 2000. . . Prior to kickoff, Toronto, Moncton, Edmonton and Montreal were announced as the four host cities for the 2014 FIFA U-20 womens World Cup. ' ' '