- By NET Web Desk
Shanglakpam Nilakanta Sharma a hockey midfielder selected among the 10 Olympic debutants in the 16-member Indian men’s Olympic hockey squad is making Manipur proud.
He is known to have shown maturity on the field everytime, he’s called upon.
The ace midfielder has mastered the art to create space in a tight situation or strike it with the calmness required.
Born in Manipur, a football dominated state, Nilakanta since his childhood dreamt to offer his best to hockey, thereby standing out of the pack. He has been holding the stick since 2003.
Nilakanta is the son of Sh Inaocha and Sh (O) Kunjarani of Kontha Ahallup Makha Leikai, residing in Imphal East district.
The midfielder joined the Posterior Hockey Academy in his early days along with Kothajit and Chinglensana, two other players from the state who had represented India.
He played for Posterior Hockey Academy Manipur till 2011.
Later he went to Bhopal Hockey Academy and was selected for the national junior team for the 2014 Sultan of Johor Cup.
Sharma has been a member of the title-winning run of the National Hockey Team at the 2016 Junior Hockey World Cup.
He has also been a member of the 4 Nations Invitational Tournament (Men) held at Hamilton, New Zealand, where the Indian Team bagged the Silver Medal.
Nilakanta has also been a member of the team that clinched the gold medal at the Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2018 (Men) at Muscat, Oman
