Abi Harper made her senior England debut against Germany last year

Four hockey players from Leicestershire have been picked in England's Under-21 squad for the Junior World Cup to be held in Boston, USA next month.

Abi Harper, 20, and 19-year-old Lauren Turner from Leicester Hockey Club, are joined by Loughborough students Maddie Hinch and Amy Turnbull (both 20).

The competition is for the world's best 16 women's teams at under-21 level and takes place at Harvard University.

England will take on France, Korea and Chile in the group stages.

The tournament begins on Monday, 3 August and lasts for two weeks.

England women's Under-21 squad Sophie Bray Sara-Jo Coakley Charlotte Craddock Kirsty Dawson Jenny Hall Abi Harper Sarah Haycroft Maddie Hinch Gemma Ible Philippa Newton Harriet Pearce Sam Quek Loren Sherer Susie Townsend Amy Turnbull Lauren Turner Georgie Twigg Hollie Webb

Coach Craig Parnham said: "It is going to be a challenging competition for this group of players, with their varying levels of experience.

"While we have a number of players who are quite experienced at under-21 level, we also have a number of less experienced players in the squad.

"The competition is going to be strong, and with Korea the double junior world champions they will certainly give us a difficult match.

"Having said that, we are looking forward to playing the top team in the world.

"We've had a good week preparing in Spain and the girls are now thoroughly looking forward to getting underway in Boston."

Nine of England's squad won bronze at the 2008 EuroHockey Junior Nations Championships in Valencia last summer.

Parnham's side take on France on Monday, 3 August and then Korea a day later. They round off their group games with a match against Chile on Thursday, 6 August.

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