Hockey team sets off for Hamburg

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Indian hockey faces the first test since the may Utrecht World Cup debacle as a crop of promising players leave here tonight for the four-nation Panasonic Cup tournament to be held in Hamburg, Germany from August 21-23.World champions Holland, Germany and Asian rivals Korea complete a formidable field in the annual event where teams play on three successive days which puts their fitness to the utmost test.

Having overcome visa hitches here, which prevented the team from leaving last night, coach CR Kumar, was happy with the fitness of the players and the strategy worked out at the camp held in Bangalore’s SAI south centre.The visas of Anurag Raguvanshi, Kamal Horo and Bimal Lakra were issued today.

“We had the option of leaving today or yesterday. So our schedule has not been upset,” Kumar told PTI today.“The boys are fully fit and have prepared well. I expect them to do well though the others are reported to have retained the World Cup squads.” India’s senior team is currentlytraining in Bangalore under coach MK Kaushik for the September Commonwealth Games.