The Indian team for the 19th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be played at Ipoh, Malaysia from 6-16 May has been selected after the trials conducted at the training camp at Balewadi, Pune on 22 and 23 April.
The selection trials were attended by Hockey India Selection Committee members BP Govinda, Col. Balbir Singh, Madhu Yadav and Sita Mehta in the presence of Government Observers Ajitpal Singh and Zafar Iqbal.
It was unanimously decided by the selectors and coaches to give a chance to some new promising players in this tournament.
India are four time champions of this tournament having won the title in 1985, 1991, 1995 and 2009.
It has also been decided to put a core management team for all overseas series and tournaments as well as domestic matches. This committee shall comprise the coaches, captain and team manager who will decide on the playing composition of the squad before every match.
In the meanwhile the coaching camp at Pune will continue till 15 May with the rest of the Commonwealth Games/Asian Games core probables under the charge of Romeo James. In addition, special training for core group and other goalkeepers shall be conducted alongside a penalty corner dragflickers clinic under the guidance of Jugraj Singh.
Team India:
Goalkeepers: Sreejesh PR (Indian Overseas Bank), Bharat Chetri (Canara Bank)
Defenders: Sardar Singh (Haryana Police), Dhananjay Mahadik (Services), Amit Prabhakar (Air India), Rupinder Pal Singh (Indian Oil).
Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh (Air India), Ravi Pal Singh (BPCL), Prabodh Tirkey (Air India), Bharat Chikara (Indian Oil), Vikas Pillay (Air India), Danish Mujtaba (UP).
Forwards: Rajpal Singh (Capt) (Indian Oil), Tushar Khandker (BPCL), Shivendra Singh (Air India), Mandip Antil (ONGC), Arjun Halappa (Air India), Sarvanjit Singh (Punjab & Sind Bank).
Standbys: Jaswinder Singh (RCF) - Goalkeeper, Ajitesh Roy (Punjab National Bank), Vikas Sharma (Indian Oil), Bikas Toppo (ONGC).
Source: Hockey India
