NEW DELHI, April 29: Indian hockey probables for the May World Cup in Utrecht today underwent selection trials at the National Stadium in the morning and evening in the presence of the selectors and Indian Hockey Federation officials.The 16-member team and four reserves would be named after the third and final session tomorrow morning, according to IHF secretary, K Jothikumar."In all, the trials are planned in a way that each player gets 70 minutes of action from the three sessions," chief coach Vasudevan Baskaran said.The players were split into two teams for matches.Skipper and mercurial striker Dhanraj Pillay, yet to get into full steam following a hairline fracture, and halfback Baljit Singh Saini who suffered a hairline cheekbone fracture two weeks back in Australia and advised rest did not take part.Though no surprises are expected in the team, the major point for debate would be the fitness of key players Pillay, Mohammad Riaz, Rajiv Mishra and Saini who are in various stages ofrecovery.Selectors felt the issue would have to be thrashed out before the list was finalised with IHF president and selection committee chairman KPS Gill and Jothikumar, who is also the convenor of the selection committtee.The coaches felt those coming back from injuries were vital to India's World Cup fortunes in the May 20 to June 1 tournament.They were aware of the risk factor but felt the advantage of having them in the team was their ability to carry out the various strategies they have been working out in the last few months. "This amount of risk we have to take. But we are fully aware of the responsibility and expectations," one of the coaches felt.All players were given a chance in the "match". Mishra, recovering from a knee arthroscopy done a month ago came up with a few eye-catching moves.Olympians Zafar Iqbal, Joaquim Carvalho, Ajitpal Singh watched the proceedings with Gill and Jothikumar, but Krishnamurthy and MK Kaushik, the other two selectors, were not present.
