Hailing from Imphal, Manipur, Nilakanta rose through the ranks of junior set-up, where he won a Gold medal at the 2015 Junior Asia Cup and the Junior World Cup title in 2016. He then made his Senior National debut against Belgium during India's tour of Europe in 2017 and went on to become a
India, currently the fourth-ranked team in men's hockey, entered the playoff match for the third position after it finished last with two points in three group-stage games. Harmanpreet Singh's team lost 2-1 to Spain in their first match before drawing 1-1 with the Netherlands. The final leag