Youngsters carry India’s hope for Azlan Shah Cup

NEW DELHI: India are getting ready for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Malaysia next month under a new captain Arjun Halappa, seeking to defend the title which they won jointly last time with South Korea. It would be India’s first outing without chief coach Jose Brasa of Spain, whose tenure ended with the Asian Games in China last year. Harendra Singh, who was deputy to Brasa, will be in charge.

The team for the event was announced on Tuesday by Hockey India, without injured strikers Bharat Chikara, Rajpal Singh and Tushar Khandkar. Sandeep Singh and Sardara Singh were not considered for selection as they did not report for the national camp.

“It’s a mix of youth and experience. The tournament provides an excellent platform to some of the players,” Harendra said.

“It’s a good team, strong in the midfield, but we are a little bit concerned about the defence, which needs a lot of improvement.”

Captain Arjun Halappa said that he was confident that his team would do well in the tournament.

The team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on April 29. Besides India and hosts Malaysia, other participating teams are Australia, Pakistan, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Korea.

‘No foreigner as coach’

Hockey India, meanwhile, has ruled out the prospect of a foreigner being appointed as the full-time coach of the national team.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Bharat Kumar Chetri; Adrian D’Souza. Defenders: Dhananjay Mahadik, Rupinder Pal Singh, Diwakar Ram. Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikas Pillay, Vikram Pillay, Arjun Halappa (cart), Ravi Pal, Danish Mujtaba, Vikas Sharma. Forwards: Shivendra Singh, S.V. Sunil, Mandeep Antil, Sarvanjeet Singh, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz. Standby’s: PR Sreejesh, William Xalxo, Gurjinder Singh, Birendra Lakra, Preetinder Singh, Bikash Toppo