Indian authorities have confirmed to the Germany Hockey Federation of India’s participation in the Hamburg International tournament.

Holland, Japan, India and Germany will be in action at the BDO Hamburg Masters 2010
to be held in the traditional city of Hamburg between 2nd and 4th July.

India have last participated in the tournament in 2003, and won it too.

Hockey India have last week belatedly informed German Hockey Federation of its participation. Olympic Gold Medallists and World Cup Silver Medallists Germany, the World Cup Bronze Medallists Holland, the aspirants Japan and record Olympia Winners India are int he fray in Hamburg-Hummelsbuettel.

Though no official communication has been received, it is understood the trails have already taken place, Indian team selected for the Hamburg sojourn.

India will take on Holland on 2nd July, followed by Germany on 3rd and Japan on 4th.

The sudden decision of the Hockey India is, it is believed, to avoid Indian players for the Yudirappa Cup now going on in Bangalore, and then to avoid National Championship that will commence on 4th July.

It is worthwhile to note here that the revived IHF has given nod to MP Government to organize the Nationals in Bhopal from 4th July. Now, it remains to be seen the players will come back and join the Nationals or will be advised against joining.

It has been observed that since Brasa has taken over the coaching, the administrators are keeping him away from any domestic tournaments, for whatever reasons. This policy is going to be in play now also.

Its a pity the national chief coach is yet to witness any serious domestic competiton, vested interested are keeping him away from knowing the real talent pool of India.

Some info on Hamburg Masters:
For the German and Dutch teams, the tournament is the last rehearsal for the ABN AMRO Champions Trophy which takes place four weeks later, from the 31st July to 8th August in Moenchengladbach. In Hamburg, the new Dutch Coach will be experiencing his first International Tournament, as Michel van den Heuvel will no longer be filling this role.

India was the last team to confirm that they would be taking part in this year’s tournament. The founding country of hockey experienced an excellent come-back into world hockey at the World Cup in New Delhi at the beginning of March. The Indian national team having missed, for the first time, the 2008 Olympic in Beijing, had gained eighth place and was again ranked in the World Top Ten Listings as ninth.

As apposed to the strong dribbling artists from India, the Japanese team will be bringing a completely different style to Hamburg. The Japanese have had a steep climb in the hockey world in the last few years, and have now, with their athletic and dynamic style changed from being a “Nobody” to feared opponents. The Japanese have also just had a break in their team formation, so that hockey fans can expect surprises from the two Asian teams when they come to play against the two World-class teams from Europe.

Courtesy: Additional input from official DHB sources