NEW DELHI, July 5 -- PR Sreejesh spent 17 months turning India's junior hockey team into serial medalists, five podium finishes in five tournaments, capped by bronze at last year's Junior World Cup. His successor's first job is to take that same age group and throw it directly at Austria, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, four European sides that do not hand out medals for effort.

The 22-member Indian Junior Men's Hockey Team left for a 13-day exposure tour of Belgium on Sunday, its first assignment under new head coach Frederic Soyez and a direct preparatory step toward the FIH Junior Men's Asia Cup later this year. The squad will play two matches each against Austria and Belgium and one each against Germany and the Netherlands, a s...