Viren to lead Mumbai

With the Junior Nationals almost as rare as a leap year 8212; this is the third in the past seven years 8212; most of the team members have had no experience at the National level. It is a shame that the country8217;s National sport has no regular tournaments to nurse fresh talent, beside a sub-junior or a junior championship conducted whenever the Indian Hockey Federation wake up from their Dormousian slumber.

To acclimatise the boys, they have been playing matches every morning against senior teams like Air-India, Western Railway and Mumbai Police. Captain Viren said, 8220;The first day,Air-India thrashed us 5-1, but yesterday we just conceded one goal. We have been beating WR and Police by two-goal margins, so I guess we are doing well.8221;

He added most of the boys played in the senior league, and so were not exactly tenderfoots.

Viren8217;s worries are up front, the all-so-familar Indian ailment of poor finishing. In a pool that includes Bhopal, Himachal Pradesh and Hyderabad, Bhopal will be the team to beat and the cushion of a healthy goal margin against HP and Hyderabad would be welcome.

Team: Goalkeepers: Ryan Sequeira UBI, Karan Bhasin Khalsa; Backs: Robindro Singh Okram Tatas, Conroy Remedios vice captain, RCF, Sunil Singh SAI; Halves: Samir Jada BPT, Viren Rasquinha captain, Tatas, Vikram Pillay UBI, Mohammad Shams SAI;Forwards: Brijesh, Asad Khan, Gurmeet Singh, Prem Singh all SAI, Stanley Fernandes Bombay Customs, Vijay Alphonso Republicans, Prakash Ghumbre UBI; Coach: Satinderpal Singh Walia; Manager: MA Karim.

Stand-bys: Govind Sharma SAI, CarlyleD8217;Mello RCF, Jose Mathew, Satish Jadhav, Junaid Jada, Ninson Mangalath Republicans.