The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : ‘The boys are ready’

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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
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‘The boys are ready’

BANGALORE: The Indian hockey camp entered its decisive and final phase at the SAI (South) Centre in Kengeri near here and the team management has pruned down the list to a core 28-member group, which will serve as the pool for the team selection for a slew of international tournaments scheduled over the next two years.

India plays a four-nation event at Perth and at Darwin, starting on April 23; the other teams in the fray are host Australia, Korea and China.

In a chat with The Hindu, here in the course of the camp, coach Joaquim Carvalho said: “Those who get left out are still in the reckoning for other engagements including the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in May and the Commonwealth Games in 2010.”

Carvalho also made it clear that the teams for Australia and Azlan Shah will be different to give an optimum exposure to everyone on the list.

Carvalho stressed on the need for young blood in the Indian team. “We need young legs. Our boys have put behind the bad memories of Chile and look forward to doing a good job in Australia and Malaysia, which are our immediate goals.”

“We have a set of youngsters like the 16-year old Lalith Upadhaya, a hard working skilful player with good height and speed. Such players need time to mature and they will. I see this core bunch as a unit which is capable of a podium finish in the course of time,” the coach said.

Carvalho said: “The camp went extremely well and all the boys are focussed. They have trained hard enough and are now ready to perform.” — Special Correspondent

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