Though the withdrawl of defending champions Indian Airlines and the absence of Punjab and Sind Bank, and Punjab XI has taken the sheen off the tourney, the IHF decision to field both Senior and Junior India teams has boosted the image of the nine-day tournament which begins at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Friday.

Re-appointed as coach for the junior team only a few days ago, Vasudevan Baskaran now finds himself in the hot-seat once again and will be in-charge of the senior team while CR Kumar will take over the junior squad for this tournament. The sudden change was necessitated after the present coach, Harcharan Singh, got himself into a mess in the recent European tour.

In the cruciallung-opener on Friday, Karnataka XI led by Samson Fernandez, will take on Air India, which boasts of a strong line-up including some Indian players. Besides these two teams, the tough Pool A consists of IHF XI and Hyderabad XI.

Bombay XI, a mixture of youth and experience, will take the likes of IHF Juniors, Tamil Nadu XI and Services XI in Pool B.

IHF has formed the junior team after the conclusion of the Junior Nationals in Bangalore on Wednesday. The IHF junior team, with talented and enthusiastic youngsters who will form the cream of future Indian teams, can shock any outfit on their day. But they have played for different teams in the just-concluded Nationals and had little rest between the two major tourneys. They have not played as a team so far and thus may lack co-ordination but should make up with loads of talent.

Services sport a new look with the induction of young blood. Coach R N Patra says the average age of the team is less than 20 years. RVS Prasad, who donned Indian colours, will be atough customer to beat in the goal for any team. They will miss the services of Kamal Horo and Cyprian Aind, presently in the Indian camp at Bangalore.

The top teams from each pool will the enter the knock-out semifinals after the league. The semifinals are slated for July 9 after a day's rest.