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Pillay to lead new-look team for Azlan Shah hockey

Last updated on: January 02, 2004 18:08 IST

With an eye on the Olympic qualifiers, the Indian Hockey Federation announced an 18-member experimental team for the prestigious Azlan Shah tournament, in Malaysia next week.

The team has only five old faces in Dhanraj Pillay, who will lead the side, former India captain Baljit Singh Dhillon, Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay and Sandeep Michael.

Len Ayappa and Arjun Halappa, who were part of the Afro-Asian Games gold medal-winning team, also find a place in the side in the absence of several key players including Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Viren Rasquinha, Devesh Chauhan and Prabhjot Singh.

As many as six players -- Adrain D'Souza, William Xalxo, Sandeep Singh, Hari Prasad, Girish Pimpale and Tushar Khandekar -- are from the junior squad which toured Poland in August 2003 and emerged triumphant in a six-nation junior tournament there.

IHF president K P S Gill told reporters the team would be trying out new combinations in the seven-nation tournament, starting January 8, in Kuala Lumpur.

"The experiments, to blend new faces and experience, would continue till some more time," Gill said while announcing the squad at the Gachibowli Hockey Stadium in Hyderabad.

"We will keep experimenting at least till the Holland Test series to be held here [in Hyderabad] in February and by that time a good combination will emerge."

India, who won the event thrice (1995, 1991 and 1985) had pulled out of the last edition after the government denied it permission to make the trip, due to the harassment of Indian IT professionals in Malaysia.

The team:

Goalkeepers: Kamaldeep Singh, Adrian D'Souza.

Full-backs: Harpal Singh, William Xalxo, Sandeep Singh.

Midfielders: Vikram Pillay, Igance Tirkey, Len Aiyappa, Prabhdeep Singh, V S Vinay, Girish Pimpale.

Forwards: Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Hari Prasad, Sandeep Michael, Tushar Khandekar, Arjun Halappa, Rajpal Singh.

Officials: Harinder Singh (coach), Clarence Lobo, Ramandeep Singh, A B Subbaiah, Dr Saju Joseph.

The fixtures (Malaysia time):

TABLE.sco{COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: arial; FONT-SIZE: 12px; TEXT-DECORATION: none}

Day/Date No Time Match
Thursday
08 Jan 2004
1 16h05 Korea vs Pakistan
2 18h05 India vs Germany
3 20h05 Malaysia vs Spain
Friday
09 Jan 2004
4 16h05 Pakistan vs India
5 18h05 Spain vs Australia
6 20h05 Germany vs Malaysia
Saturday
10 Jan 2004
7 18h05 Australia vs Korea
Sunday
11 Jan 2004
8 16h05 Korea vs Germany
9 18h05 Malaysia vs India
10 20h05 Pakistan vs Spain
Monday
12 Jan 2004
11 18h05 Malaysia vs Australia
12 20h05 Pakistan vs Germany
Tuesday
13 Jan 2004
13 18h05 Korea vs Spain
14 20h05 India vs Australia
Wednesday
14 Jan 2004
15 16h05 Spain vs Germany
16 18h05 Pakistan vs Malaysia
17 20h05 India vs Korea
Thursday
15 Jan 2004
18 18h05 Australia vs Pakistan
Friday
16 Jan 2004
19 16h05 Spain vs India
20 18h05 Germany vs Australia
21 20h05 Malaysia vs Korea
Saturday
17 Jan 2004
Rest Day
Sunday
18 Jan 2004
22 08h05 5-6th Classification Match
23 15h35 3-4th Classification Match
24 18h05 Final

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