
Chennai, May 12: The Indian Hockey Federation IHF, quite rightly, has decided against sending the National team abroad for international tournaments in the months before the Sydney Olympic Games. Rather, the team will be kept in India and probably play matches against Malaysia, Great Britain and a couple of other teams who have not qualified for the Games.
Meanwhile, coach Vasudevan Baskaran along with IHF president KPS Gill and Jothikumaran finalised the probables for the first pre-Olympic camp to be held in Bangalore from May 18. All the junior players now doing duty in the Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, have been included.
The probables: Goalkeepers: Jude Menezes Mumbai, Devesh Chauhan A-I Academy, Bharath Chetri Centre of Excellence, Jagdish Ponnappa IA, Edward Aloysis PSB. Backs: Dilip Tirkey IA, Dinesh Nayak TN, Bikramjit Singh Rlys, Lazrus Barla IA, Len Iyappa CoE, Kanwalpreet Singh Pun. Mifielders: Baljit Singh Saini PSB, Md Riaz IA, Thirumalvalavan and Natarajan TN, Samsul Shouk UP, Arjun Hallappa CoE, Sukhbir Singh Gill BPCL, Ramandeep Singh Pun, Bimal Lakra IA, Paramjit Singh Services. Forwards: Dhanraj Pillai Mumbai, Sameer Dad, Mukesh Kumar IA, Gagan Ajit Singh BPCL, Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Thakkur A-I Academy, Vipin Fernandez CoE, Baljit Singh Dhillon Pun, Senthil TN, Harbajan Singh BSF and Inderjit Singh Chd. Coaches: Vasudevan Baskaran, CR Kumar and Harinder Singh. Trainers: Ramesh and Saju Joseph both SAI.