Chennai: The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium is all set to host another big hockey event when the cream of National talent will be on view in the ONGC-sponsored Independence Cup starting on Sunday. True, the event may not be in the same grade as the Champions Trophy played in December, but its significance can be interesting.

The four-team contest, involving the National team, the junior squad, the development outfit and a Tamil Nadu XI, is an excellent rehearsal for selecting the National team for the coming World Cup at Monchengladbach, Germany, and for the SAF Games in Colombo.

K. Jothikumaran, Secretary, Indian Hockey Federation, termed this effort of the Tamil Nadu Hockey Association as a unique exercise to facilitate a selection process and at the same time to give the spectators something to relish from August 12 to 16.

The focus undoubtedly will be on the senior squad which returned to city on Friday morning to resume its training under the Chief Coach V. Baskaran.

Tough camps

The probables have had a tough time with a physical training camp at Bangalore and then a conditioning and training stint at Hyderabad.

The IHF Secretary was happy that the physical conditioning under Australian Derek Knox had made a tremendous impact on the team and the confidence of the players had improved.

He was also happy with the performance of the under-18 team that won the trophy in Poland and the squad which played in the four-nation event in Singapore recently.

The selectors, headed by K.P.S. Gill, assisted by Olympians Gurbux Singh and Harmik Singh and the Government nominee Ajitpal Singh, will watch the players in action before finalising the World Cup squad on August 17.

The floodlit final on August 16 will be telecast live on Doordarshan. The second match on Saturday between India Seniors and the Development squad will also be played under lights.

The officials of the four teams:

India (sr): Chief Coach: V. Baskaran; Assistant Coach: Harendra Singh; Trainer: Derek Knox; Physio: Ravi Kanagamedala; Captain: Dilip Tirkey.

India Development team: Chief Coach: Clarance Lobo; Assistant Coach: Muhammad Riaz; Trainer: Gunasekaran; Captain: V. Raja.

Juniors: Chief Coach: Romesh Pathania; Assistant Coach: C.S. Ravi Varma; Trainer: P.L. Murugappan; Physio: H.S. Cheema; Captain: Guvinder Singh Chandi.

Tamil Nadu: Chief Coach: B. Ramaswamy; Assistant Coach: V. Jeyasekaran; Trainer: Sujin; Captain: Jagan Sendhil.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail