New Delhi: Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur paid for their poor performance in the last month's Hockey World Cup as they have been dropped from the list of 45 probables for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, beginning in Ipoh, Malaysia May 6.
After their poor showing in the World Cup where India finished eighth, forwards Deepak and Prabhjot, the two seniormost players, were easy targets for selectors who met Thursday to pick the probables. The rest of the World Cup squad made it to the national camp in Pune from April 13.
The selectors went through the performance chart of the players in the last eight months and found some of them hardly played any serious competitive hockey on the tours.
The selectors apparently took a serious view of these players warming the bench for long spells without valid reasons and this was communicated to the team management.
The overwhelming view of the selectors was that they should take charge of the entire selection process if they have to face the music if the team does not perform well.
It is learnt that a couple of other senior players, too, would have been left out but for the lack of bench strength.
The selection committee was worried over the "lack of quality goalkeepers and defenders."
A selector told IANS that Prabhjot and Deepak were dropped on performance alone, though there would be speculation that they had been left out because of their role in the players' revolt over wages before the World Cup.
"Frankly, we looked at the long-term prospects of the team and it was felt that the two may not make the cut for the London Olympics in 2012. Moreover, this is the best time to infuse young blood considering that we have to try and qualify for the Olympics by winning the gold at the Guangzhou Asian Games in December, failing which the team will have to again go through the cumbersome qualification process."
The selectors also considered the names former India captain Dilip Tirkey but it was decided not to recall him as he himself does not appear to be interested in a comeback.
Forward SV Sunil, who was unfortunate to miss the World Cup with a knee inury, has been name in the the list.
The selection commitee meeting was attended by Balbir Singh, Munneer Sait, B.P. Govinda and Sita Mehta. Ajitpal Singh and Zafar Iqbal were present as government observers.
The Indian team, which will defend the Azlan Shah Cup, will meet China in their opening match May 6.
The other countries competing in the 10-day tournament are world champions Australia, Asian champions South Korea, Pakistan, Egypt and hosts Malaysia.
Probables:
Goalkeepers: Adrian D' souza, Sreejesh PR, Bharat Chetri, Dinesh Ekka, Jaswinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh.
Defenders: 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, VS Vinaya, Birender Lakra (Jr), 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, SV Sunil, Bikas Toppo, Bharat Chikara, Dharamvir Singh, Mandeep Antil, Mohmmad Amir Khan, Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, S. Arumugam.
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