Team for Hamburg hockey tournament on June 3

The Indian team for the four-nation hockey tournament to be played in Hamburg, Germany, will be announced on June 3.

Besides India, Germany, Spain and Malaysia are taking part in the three-day tournament, beginning from June 14.

India had finished last when they participated in the tournament four years ago.

Trails for the probables will be held in Bangalore on June 2 and 3 and the team will be announced at the end of it, chief coach Ramesh Parameswaran said.

Indian Hockey Federation president K P S Gill, secretary general K Jyothikumaran and the selection committee will decide the composition of the team.

Parmeswaran informed that only 20 of the 33 probables have arrived for the camp, which began on Monday. Other players are expected by the month-end, he added.

Captain of the Kuala Lumpur World Cup team, which finished tenth, Baljit Singh Dhillon had informed coach Baldev Singh about his inability to attend the camp as he was suffering from fever while Dhanraj Pillay, currently playing in the Malaysian league, is likely to arrive during the first week of June.

Parmeswaran said after selection the team would undergo a week's training before leaving for Germany.

He said more emphasis is being given to conversion of penality-corners as ''our players are yet to make best utilisation of the penality-corners awarded''. Defending and aiming at the goal post are other areas of focus, he added.

To a question, Parameswaran replied: ''We are in the team building process and this is an attempt to build an India 'A' team. Efforts are on to prepare a strong team and more encouragement is being given to young and talented players. We are not really in a bad position on the international scenario."

He claimed India is still a world beater but refused to spell out reasons for the team's poor performance at international tournaments.