Fresh legs to constitute core hockey group

Firoz Mirza, Hindustan Times

The national camp to select the senior men’s hockey team scheduled to start next month, might see a large number of freshers, especially from Jharkhand, Orissa and Punjab, getting to showcase their skills. Impressed with their good show in the National Championships that concluded on Sunday, the selectors, camping here to pick the probables for the core group, have zeroed down on these players.

“Youngsters, especially from Punjab, Orissa, Karnataka, Combined Universities and Jharkhand have impressed
us. We will recommend their names to Hockey India that eventually will announce the core group in the days to come,” said a selector.

Another selector said that some of the youngsters would be included in the development team. “These players, after 3-4 years of training would replace their outgoing senior teammates,” he said.

A pool of at least 48 players would be selected which would be trimmed to constitute a core group of 33 for future events, he added.

The selectors, however, maintained that players who are already in the team might also retain their spots depending on their performance in the Nationals. “Barring a few, most of the players have performed. Some of them also got injured which may lead to their exclusion from the list of probables,” said the selector.

One of the government observers said, “We will meet Hockey India office-bearers in Delhi in a couple of days to take a final decision on the list of players provided by the selectors.” He admitted that freshers had been impressive and may get a chance to attend the national camp.