Rajpal to lead India in Asian Champions Trophy

BANGALORE: Chief coach Michael Nobbs kept a few of the promises he had made in the past few weeks, while allowing further time to take care of one crucial objective of his as India got ready for their first competition under the Australian in China.

The 18-member squad for the Asian Champions Trophy in September has a fair sprinkling of new faces, thanks to the grit and gumption they showed at the trials, as well as injuries to a few seasoned players. The most outstanding is Air India’s Yuvraj Walmiki, who easily outpaced and outshone the seasoned Prabhjot Singh on the left flank to seal his place. This will be his first senior competition.

Walmiki is one of the youngsters being blooded at the senior level, as Nobbs promised. There are others too, like Manpreet Singh (ONGC) and Manjit Kullu (SCR) on the halfline and Harpreet Singh at the defence.

Nobbs, however, couldn’t go ahead with his plan of doing away with the captain. Rajpal Singh finds himself again in the hot seat after the 2010 Asian Games, but the drift at the camp is that the coach is at work in determining the key players who would form the leadership group. It would only be a matter of time before India completely embraces the concept.

The dragflick experts are Rupinder Pal Singh, who had done extremely well at the Azlan Shah Cup in May, and Sandeep Singh while Sardar Singh returns to his familiar position in the midfield.

Of the five who left the camp midway through in July to attend the World Series Hockey function in Mumbai, only Sandeep and Sardar have made their way back. Amongst the others, Arjun Halappa, who led India at the Azlan Shah, has been ruled out with a groin injury, while goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza, who played at Azlan Shah, and Prabhjot have been dropped.

On Adrian’s attitude, Nobbs said: “This is not the strongest team but we have picked players on form. There wasn’t a lot of difference between goalkeepers. But I would say Adrian still has an opportunity to come back at a later date.”

European consultant for the national team?

Nobbs said he was keen on roping in an European coach as a consultant for a short period to know more about the teams taking part in the Champions Trophy. “I would like to get someone to advise us on the European teams. It is something like what Germany’s Paul Lissek does in the Australian team. I do know a few European coaches and I would like to be in touch with one of them to know more about what these teams are doing, their pattern of play and other aspects,” he said.

Team:

Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh. Defenders: Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh.

Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh, Manjit Kullu.

Forwards: Rajpal Singh (captain), Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, SV Sunil, Ravi Pal, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz, Yuvraj Walmiki.

Standbys: Kamaldeep Singh (Goalkeeper), VR Raghunath (Defender), Vikas Sharma (Midfielder), Birender Lakra (Midfielder), Mandip Antil (Forward), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Forward).

Schedule:

September 3: India vs China.

September 4: India vs Japan.

September 6: India vs South Korea.

September 7: India vs Malaysia.

September 9: India vs Pakistan

September 11: Classification Matches and Final.