Halappa to miss Asian Champions Trophy

BANGALORE: Skipper Arjun Halappa will not figure in the selection trials over the weekend for the Asian Champions Trophy tournament.

Out with a groin injury for more than a month now, the midfielder said it was disappointing he wouldn’t be able to figure in the trials as well as the continental tournament. But he has no choice as he will be on rehab for the next three weeks and will take around six weeks to regain full fitness.

There is a cloud of doubt over Vikramkanth and Kothajit, who are down with fever while frontliner Tushar Khandker, who is nursing an ankle injury, may find himself out of the trials, giving chief coach Michael Nobbs the challenge of finding apt replacements in the 18-member squad.

Nobbs will rely on the counsel of his exercise physiologist David John, even if it has to be over the telephone, to pick the best of the 48 that have assembled at the Sports Authority of India, South Centre. John was expected to land in India on Friday but his departure from Australia may be delayed until next week, it is learnt.

The selection assumes significance as it is Nobbs’ first. It is natural than anybody in charge of a squad will have his own priorities and strategies with some players fitting into his scheme of things better than the others.

Nobbs will look for a blend of youth and experience but whether he has set his sights on any young gun in particular remains to be seen. The Australian is keen on blooding youngsters so that they get to play at least 10-20 international matches prior to the Olympic qualifiers next year.

In the present scenario, fitness is the key factor which may shatter the hopes of a few senior players, particularly those who chose to break the camp rules and their fitness routines and head to Mumbai for the World Series Hockey launch last month. John had said then that it would be an uphill task for those players to catch up with the others.

The silver lining here is that the Asian Champions Trophy, to be held in Ordos, China from September 3-11, is the first of the tournaments where India would be testing their talent, giving a ray of hope to those keen on a comeback. As Nobbs said: “The Ordos test is a good one to see where we stand competitively. If we do well, then we are heading in the right track, if we don’t do well then we know what needs to be done.”

Apparently, Nobbs’ line of thinking will become even more clear once his core group of around 29-31 players will be decided in the next two days along with the 18 for Ordos.

Among the selectors, Col Balbir Singh, Harbinder Singh, BP Govinda, AB Subbaiah and government observer Dilip Tirkey will watch the trials at SAI.

The venue was decided after the players opined that the SAI turf is not as unplayable as it has been made out to be. Incidentally, the travel time to the MEG turf, which is a clean 20km away from SAI, and the hellish journey, too has contributed to the decision.