Four juniors for Dhaka tourney

Four juniors for Dhaka tourney
Express News Service

Chennai, March 8: Contrary to earlier expectation that the Dhaka-bound Indian hockey team will be released on Wednesday, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) held back the announcement by a day. Four juniors players who were called for the camp after the ‘German Friendly Series’ will be making the debut for the country in the Nine-nation tournament to be held in Dhaka from March 10.

The number of probables has been pruned from 25 to 16 which will most probably be the team making it to Dhaka.

Bharat Chetri who hails from Darjeeling and was the goalkeeper at the recently concluded Cairo tournament finds a place. The other three debutants who are most likely to make their debut are Arjun Halappa, Inderjeet Singh and Radhakrishnan. The forward line has been strengthened by the inclusion of the Dhanraj Pillai, an Arjuna Awardee and the lone member of the present batch to have represented the country in three Olympics.

Cedric D’Souza, the chief national hockey coach, said to be suffering from a viral infection, is still in a private hospital in the city. He will not be going with the team to Dhaka.

According to reliable sources, Cedric will be joining the team on Sunday. The five-day camp with assistant coach CR Kumar at the helm concluded at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on yesterday.

Kumar who had been having a longer stint with the juniors was happy with the present batch which is a blend of experience and youth. ‘‘For the juniors it is the right time to make a breakthrough. To play low-intensified matches like this will help the juniors in the long run. We were trying out a new sequence in penalty corners and I’m hopeful that the new strategy will click,’’ said Kumar.

The probable team: Jude Menezes, Bharat Chetri, Dhanraj Pillai, Lazarus Barla, Dinesh Nayak, Dilip Tirkey, Baljeet Singh Dhillon, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Baljit Singh Saini, Thirumalvalavan, Radhakrishnan, Bipin Fernandez, Prabjoth Singh, Deepak Thakkur, Inderjeet Singh and Arjun Halappa.