India to miss Raghuvanshi, Daljit

APRIL 24: India, to be led by Lazarus Barla, would miss medically-unfit Anurag Raghuvanshi and Daljit Singh in action in the Junior Asia C...

APRIL 24: India, to be led by Lazarus Barla, would miss medically-unfit Anurag Raghuvanshi and Daljit Singh in action in the Junior Asia Cup Hockey tournament beginning in the Malyasian capital of Kuala Lumpur on May three.

Hirojit Singh, Baljit Singh and Gurjant Singh have also been omitted in the 18-member Indian squad announced on Monday.

The team: Goal-Keepers: Devesh Chauhan, Bhart Chettri; Full-Backs: Lazarus Barla (capt), Len Aiyappa, Bikramjit Singh, Kanwalpreet Singh; Half-Backs: Paramjith Singh, Bimal Lakra, Prabodh Tirkey, Natarajan, Bipin Fernandez, Shamsuz Zoha; Forwards: Arjun Halappa, Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajith Singh, Inderjit Singh, Amarjit Pratap, Probhjot Singh.

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Officials: Chief Coach: C R Kumar,; Assistant Coach: E Brient; Team Doctor: Dr. Ramesh; Physio: Saju Joseph; Manager: D S Murthy.

Vice-Chairman of Sports Authority of Karnataka (SAK) A Janardan announed the team on behalf of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President, KPS Gill.

Anandan said Raghuvanshi and Daljith Singh were foundmedically unfit, with the former suffering from thigh injury and the latter from backache.

“Certainly we are missing Raghuvanshi. His services would have made a difference,” Coach Kumar said. “Though he has recovered from the injury, he is not fit to play in competitive tournaments.”

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India, who are placed in Group `B’, which has China, Iran, Japan and Uzbekistan, will take on Bangaladesh on the opening day, May 3.

Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman and Chinese Taipei are in group `A’. The team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on April 29.

The Fixtures:

May 3: vs Bangladesh, May 5: vs China, May 6: vs Japan, May 8: vs Iran, May 9: vs Uzbesistan.

The semi-finals are slated for May 12 and the final for May 14.