India eyeing World Cup berth in hockey

‘‘Main aim is to get ourselves prepared well for the World Cup qualifiers,’’ Cedric said here today. India will be vying for one of the seven berths at the 16-nation qualifying tournament in Edinburgh, Scotland from June 17 to 29.

The coach, who worked with 55 probables in the Ludhiana camp last month, said he was trying to get rid of the shortcomming that ‘‘I witnessed in Sydney.’’

‘‘This is not to undermine V Baskaran (his predecessor till after the Sydney Olympics) in any way. But what I saw during the Olympics, I want to rectify some of the flaws in the Indian team’s play,’’ Cedric said.

A three-Test series against Germany starting on February 26 and a six-nation tournament in Dhaka from March 10 to 20 are India’s immediate concerns.India is to play Germany as part of the Indo-German series at three venues across the country. The first match will be in Mumbai on February 26 while Hyderabad will host the second on March 1. Chennai will be venue for the last on March 4.

‘‘After that we will have a short camp in Chennai itself before heading for Dhaka,’’ Cedric said.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the Dhaka event are trying to make the tournament an eight-nation event, though no confirmation has yet been made, Cedric said.This year India will be looking to regain a place in the 2002 champions trophy when it plays host to the champions challenge trophy in December.