Acid test for India down under

SYDNEY, April 8: The Indian hockey team, with many lesser lights standing in for a clutch of stars rested back home, will strive to show tha...

SYDNEY, April 8: The Indian hockey team, with many lesser lights standing in for a clutch of stars rested back home, will strive to show that talent runs deep when they begin action in the four-nation double leg Colarado Cup at the State Sports Centre at Homebush from tommorrow.

The Asian stalwarts who are in their final preparatory stretch for the May World Cup in Utrect, Netherlands and hoping they atleast equal their Sydney 1994 showing of fifth place have much at stake when they take on New Zealand in the opening match tomorrow.

Hosts Australia and Argentina complete the field in what will be the final testing ground in this event to be held in two phases, Sydney and Melbourne, concluding on April 19.

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India, looking for a morale boosting show here, have come with a number of understudies who are expected to make the pool from which the eventual squad for Utrect will be picked.

It will be a golden opportunity, albeit a tough job, as they strive to step into the shoes of eight players who have been`rested’ for various reasons from the squad which was shortlisted for the Test series with Pakistan last month.

Mercurial striker Dhanraj Pillay is nursing an injured toe and leg strain suffered during the Indian leg of the Test series while young striker Rajiv Mishra, joint top scorer when India finished runners-up to Australia in the Junior World Cup in Milton Keynes last year, was not risked as he is recovering from a left knee arthroscopy.

In-form winger Mukesh Kumar and the overworked young defender Lazarus Barla, first choice goalkeeper AB Subbaiah, left winger Gavin Fereira and centre half Mohd Riaz, who is yet to regain his peak fitness after being sidelined with a bad shin injury suffered in December are also among those rested.The team led by right half and Junior World Cup captain Baljit Singh Saini had the potential to come good though the three rivals will be a handful, said coach Vasudevan Baskaran, who led India to Gold in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the last time the 1975 World Champions wonan Olympic medal of any hue.

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Australia is coached by former star Terry Walsh, a member of the team marshalled by Ric Charlesworth in the 1980s. The Aussies have a settled team with only two places still up for grabs in the 16-strong squad that will make it to Utrect, according to Walsh.

“From a hockey purist’s point of view, the World Cup is virtually the Olympics, and we’ve also got the Commonwealth Games (in Kuala Lumpur) later this year. The World Cup team is pretty close to settled, but we’re probably looking for one more striker and another halfback,” Walsh said.

New Zealand, in pool A with India, are a vastly improved side while the robust Argentines, who stunned India in the Atlanta Games with a 1-0 defeat which sent the eight time Olympic Gold medalists eventually hurtling to their worst ever eighth spot, will also be tough rivals.