The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : IHF announces 18-member team

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Saturday, Apr 10, 2004

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IHF announces 18-member team

NEW DELHI, APRIL 9. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on Friday announced an 18-member team for the twin four-nation tournaments in Australia, starting on April 14. The tournaments will be held in Sydney and Canberra.

Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Dhillon and Baljit Singh Saini having been excluded from the probables list named last week, there was no possibility of them being brought back into the team. Yet, the topic of discussion on Friday mainly centred around Dhanraj Pillay's continued exclusion from the team and his chances of figuring in the line-up for the Athens Olympics.

Pillay was excluded from the team to the Olympic qualifiers in Madrid last month on fitness grounds, though the player himself stated later that he was fit, but had opted out in an effort to avoid controversy.

The chief coach of the team, Rajinder Singh, refused to comment on the exclusions of Pillay and Dhillon and said that it would be up to the IHF to explain the position with regard to these two senior players. He, however, pointed out that the performance of the newcomers in the present team would be watched closely in Australia in deciding whether they stood a chance of getting into the Olympics squad.

Drag-flick, in penalty-corner sequences, would be of prime concern to the team during its Australian trip, said Rajinder. He added that both Len Aiyappa and Jatinder Pal Singh would be tried out in this crucial department.

Talking of penalty corners, Rajinder said that Jugraj Singh, the country's best drag-flicker, who was injured in a road accident last September and was back in training at Jalandhar, had phoned him to say that he had started his running and training sessions and was confident of making his comeback into the team in time for the Olympics. The coach like every other hockey fan, hoped that Jugraj would come back to bolster his side.

The IHF Secretary, K. Jothikumaran, said that at the end of the Australian tour, a list of 24 Olympic probables would be finalised. The next camp, at a high altitude centre, was scheduled to commence on May 23.

The team:

Goalkeepers: Devesh Chauhan and Bharat Kumar; Full backs: Dilip Tirkey (capt), Kanwalpreet Singh and Jatinder Pal Singh; Half backs: Ignace Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Harpal Singh, Viren Rasquinha and Len Aiyappa; Forwards: Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Inderjeet Kumar, Deepak Thakur, Ajitpal Singh, Sunil Yadav and Raju. Officials: Rajinder Singh (chief coach), N. S. Sodhi (coach), A. B. Subbaiah (goalkeeping coach) and Sampath Kumar (trainer).

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