CHENNAI, July 25: Maharaj Kumar Kaushik, the 1980 Olympian and 1982 World Cup forward, has been appointed as the chief coach of Indian hockey team which will participate in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September and the Bangkok Asian Games in December, this year. Ramesh Parameswaran will be his deputy.Annoucning the appointments, here on Saturday, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president KPS Gill sent out strange signals when he indicated that the door was still open for Kaushik's predecessor, Vasudevan Baskaran, who proved to be the sacrificial lamb for the World Cup debacle in Utrecht earlier this summer.``We have not ruled out Baskaran,'' declared Gill when pointed out that MP Ganesh, chairman of the coaching committee, had not officially recommended that the coach be changed.``Ganesh's role is to merely interact with the coaches and give us (the IHF) the feedback,'' he clarified.Kaushik, the former Mumbai right-winger and National women's team coach, will be in charge up to theAsian Games. For the moment, he has been saddled with as many as 51 probables.Kaushik appeared bewildered when told of his appointment. He was reluctant to meet the mediapersons and kept repeating: ``How can I talk to you guys when I have not been told of my appointment.''It was virtually a repeat of the 1997 drama when Pargat Singh was appointed without even being consulted in the first place.When asked about his approach to the assignment, the 43-year old Delhi-based Deputy Director (Hockey), Haryana Government, said: ``It is a challenging job. I will be firm on fitness and only those fit will be chosen. At the Utrecht World Cup, I noticed several players who were unfit.''Kaushik said he would stick to ``old tactics'' in view of the paucity of time and admitted that the team needed to brush up on penalty-corner conversions.Meanwhile, CR Kumar, who, with Ramesh assisted Baskaran at Utrecht, was named the coach of the ``developmental team'' which will take part in the Four-Nation Tournament atHamburg, in August.SANDEEP SOMESH AXED: The probables list included the entire Utrecht team, barring Rajesh Chauhan, while goalkeeper AB Subbaiah, who had quit international hockey after being dropped for the World Cup, also finds a place. A most glaring omission was that of centre-half Sandeep Somesh who was outstanding in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup tourney which was billed as the ``selection trials''.The probables will be split into three teams - for Commonwealth Games, Hamburg and a proposed tour of Europe (coach to be named) - and they will undergo coaching at Bangalore. The main team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on September 5.THE PROBABLESGoalkeepers: AB Subbaiah (Indian Airlines), Jagadish Ponnappa (IAC), Jude Menezes (Mumbai), Ambuj Srivastava (Railways), BU Bopanna (Karnataka), Sandeep Shankeen (FCI) and BC Poonacha (Customs).Defenders: Dilip Tirkey (IAC/subject to fitness), Lazarus Barla (IAC), Dinesh Nayak (Tamil Nadu), Cornelius D'Costa (Air-India), CheopsD'Costa (Mumbai), Anurag Raghuvanshi (IHF Colts), Rajinder Singh (Customs), Sundaram (Railways), Mohd Riaz (IAC), Baljit Singh Saini (Punjab & Sind Bank), Ramandeep Singh (Punjab), Sukhvir Singh Gill (Customs), Bimal Lakra (IHF Colts), Thirumalvalavan (TN), Shanmugam (Karnataka), Jagmohan (Rlys), Paramjit Singh (Services), Nausher Singh (Rlys), Rajbir Singh Bao (PSB), Radhakrishnan (TN) and Rahul Singh (Customs).Forwards: Mukesh Kumar (IAC), Dhanraj Pillay (Mumbai), Sabu Varkey (Mumbai), Parminder Singh (PSB), Ronald Kiran (Karnataka), Baljit Singh Dhillon (Punjab), Lakshman Prabhakar (TN), Gagan Ajit singh (A-I), Ajinder Pal Singh (Rlys), Kamal Horo (Services), Suresh (Customs), Daljit Singh (Punjab), Varinder Singh (IAC), Sandeep Sagwan (FCI), M Ekka (Rlys), Sameer Dad (IAC), Rajiv Misra (Rlys), Altaf-ur-Rehman (IAC), Sanjeev Kumar (PSB), Gurjant Singh (IHF Colts), Cyprian Aind (Services), Mahesh Bagade (Mumbai) and Ravi Nayakar (Mumbai).
