Thakur, Prabhjot out of probables list

NEW DELHI: Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh have not found a place in the list of probables for the National hockey camp in preparation for the Azlan Shah Cup tournament at Ipoh, Malaysia, next month.

The Hockey India (HI) Selection Committee which met here on Thursday, along with the Government observers, dropped Thakur and Prabhjot, not unexpectedly, while naming 45 probables for the camp to be held in Pune from April 13.

The selectors retained the rest of the core group of probables while adding several players, quite notably midfielder Prabodh Tirkey who was reportedly unavailable earlier due to personal reasons.

Tirkey’s return was considered essential since Bharat Chikara, a forward who was tried out in the midfield in the World Cup, had proved a weak link in the rear, according to the selectors.

The Selection Committee meeting was attended by Col. Balbir Singh, Munneer Sait, B.P. Govinda and Ms. Sita Mehta (selectors) and Ajitpal Singh and Zafar Iqbal (Government observers).

The list of probables:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D’ Souza (Air India), Sreejesh P. R. (IOB), Bharat Chetri (Canara Bank), Dinesh Ekka (ONGC), Jaswinder Singh (RCF) and Gurpreet Singh (Air India).

Full backs: Sandeep Singh (Haryana Police), V. Raghunath (Indian Oil), Diwakar Ram (ONGC), Dhananjay Mahadhik (Services), Rupinder Pal Singh (Indian Oil), Amit Prabhakar (Air India) and Sunil Yadav (SAI, Lucknow).

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Vikas Pillay, V. S. Vinaya and Prabodh Tirkey (Air Inda); Sardar Singh (Haryana Police); Ravi Pal Singh (BPCL); Ajitesh Roy (PNB); Birender Lakra (Jr.) and Amardeep Ekka (SAIL); Vikas Sharma (Indian Oil); Virenderjit Singh (BSF); Rajesh Kumar (Services); Preetinder Singh and Vikas Choudhary (ONGC) and Jasjeet Kular (PSB).

Forwards: Tushar Khandkar and Hari Prasad (BPCL); Shivendra Singh, Arjun Halappa, Mohammad Amir Khan (Air India); Rajpal Singh, Bharat Chikara, Roshan Minz and Dharamvir Singh (Indian Oil); Gurwinder Singh Chandi and Sarwanjit Singh (PSB); S. V. Sunil and S. Arumugam (Services); Bikas Toppo and Mandeep Antil (ONGC) and Danish Mujtaba (SAI, Bhopal) . — Special Correspondent