Col Harcharan Singh appointed national coach till Sydney Olympics

The camp at Chandigarh will be under the supervision of IHF senior vice-president Chandersekhar while Col Harcharan Singh has been appointed the chief national coach.

The remaining players out of 79 probables will attend the camps at Patiala and Amristar with a view to maintaining continuity in training programme.

The IHF president disclosed that another Indian team would be sent to South Africa for a five-Test series from August 14-22. India will also compete in the four-nation international meet at Canberra and Sydney from September 16 to 26. Besides Australia, India, Canada and Korea are the other contenders for the title.

Former Indian captain Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar can be included among the probables for the national coaching camp. However, it will depend on the recommendations of the Indian coaches, including Col Singh, according to IHF secretary-general Jyotikumaran.

“If the coaches feel these players are good and fit, they can be invited to the future national camps only after getting the feedback on the performance of the players in the present lot,” said Jyotikumaran.

Pillay, Mukesh and four more players were rested’ after the Indian team returned victorious from the 13th Bangkok Asian Games.

Meanwhile, Col Singh, who was summoned by the federation for the second phase of the camp which began on May 3, declined to comment on the Indian team and his priorities. Col Singh, who was a member of the Indian team which won the World Cup in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur, has been appointed till 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Jyotikumaran said for the first time, a sub-junior team would be sent to Australia for training-cum-competition in September. The sub-junior team would be selected during the Sub-Junior Nationals in Uttar Pradesh.

The IHF has also decided to introduce zonal-level national competitions for juniors. The Indian probables would be selected at the end of zonal tournaments.

An under-21 team will go to Poland for an eight-nation tournament from August 22-29. Chennai is organising World Youth under-18 Festival from December 27 to January 6.

IHF executive Robert Laurence and former Olympian Somaya would meet Gill and Jyotikumaran tomorrow in Delhi after visiting Pune today in connection with the Junior National Championship for under-21. An Indian under-21 will be selected for participation in the eight-nation junior international in Poland.

The IHF president declared that no senior Indian team would participate in foreign tournaments after March next year in view with the preparations for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. However, the federation will invite some teams that fail to qualify for the Olympics. The federation will be willing to meet the expenses of these team for the “non-televised” matches against India.

The Olympic qualifying tournament is scheduled for March next year. India have already qualified for Sydney Olympics.

The probables for the Chandigarh camp are:

V Ravindro (CRPF), Edward Aloysis (Punjab and Sind Bank), Dilip Tirkey (IA), Lazrus Barla (IA), Anurag Raghuvanshi (UP), Rajinder Singh (Customs), Navsher Singh (Railways), Baljit Saini (PSB), Anwar Khan (Rlys), S S Gill (Mumbai), Ramandeep Singh (Punjab), Shamshul Juha (UP), Sandeep Singh (PSB), Sunil Yadav (UP), Baljit Singh Dhillon (Punjab), Daljit Singh Dhillon (Punjab), Gagan Ajit Singh (Air India), Samir Dad (Rlys), Ajinder Pal Singh (Rlys), K Horo (Services), Parminder Singh (PSB), Deepak Thakur (AI), Sarabjit Singh (Punjab), Ajitpal Singh (Universities), Amarjit Partap Singh (UP), Gursewak Singh (Punjab) and Harbhajan Singh (BSF).