Prabhjot, Thakur miss Azlan Shah bus, selectors name 45 probables

NEW DELHI: Senior Indian forwards Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur were dropped from the list of 45 probables selected to attend the coaching camp at Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune for the 19th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup International hockey tournament in Malaysia.

A six-member selection committee met on Thursday and finalised the list of players which includes six goalkeepers, seven fullbacks, 16 mid-fielders and as many forwards.

Both Prabhjot and Thakur had performed badly in the recently held World Cup and head coach Jose Brasa and officials were critical of their poor show.

The camp, starting April 13, will continue till the departure of the Indian team for the Azlan Shah Cup starting at Ipoh, Malaysia on May 6.

Thursday’s meeting was attended by Col Balbir Singh, Munneer Sait, B P Govinda and Sita Mehta (selectors) and Ajitpal Singh and Zafar Iqbal (govt observers).

Defending champions India will face China in their opening match of the Azlan Shah tournament. India will take on Pakistan in their second match a day later.

The other countries competing in the 10-day tournament are world champions Australia, Asian champions South Korea, Egypt and hosts Malaysia.

The event will be played on a round-robin format with the two top teams clashing for the trophy. The third and fourth teams will play for the bronze medal.

India have won the title on four occasions, in 1985, 1991, 1995 and 2009 while they were runners-up two years ago.

List of probables:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D’ Souza, Sreejesh PR, Bharat Chetri, Dinesh Ekka, Jaswinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh.

Fullbacks: Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Diwakar Ram, Dhananjay Mahadik, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Prabhakar, Sunil Yadav.

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, Sardar Singh, Ravi Pal Singh, Vikas Pillay, Ajitesh Roy, V S Vinaya, Birender Lakra, Vikas Sharma, Virenderjit Singh, Amardeep Ekka, Rajesh Kumar, Preetinder Singh, Jasjeet Kular, Vikas Choudhary.

Forwards: Tushar Khandkar, Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Arjun Halappa, Roshan Minz, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Hari Prasad, S V Sunil, Bikas Toppo, Bharat Chikara, Dharamvir Singh, Mandeep Antil, Mohmmad Amir Khan, Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, S Arumugam.