Bangalore, May 26: The Indian Hockey Federation on Wednesday announced a 18-man Indian squad, which includes Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, for the European tour (Germany and Belgium) to be held from June 8-20.
IHF secretary general K Jothikumaran announced the team on Wednesday. The team, captained by Mohammed Riaz of Indian Airlines, was selected today after trials at the Akkithimmanahalli Stadium. IHF president KPS Gill was present at the trials.
Colonel Harcharan Singh will be the chief coach, assisted by CR Kumar. The coach for the goalkeepers is MR Negi. The team will head for Germany on June 6 after attending a function to honour the Asian Games medal-winning team in Delhi.
Team (European tour): Mohammed Riaz (capt), Sameer Dad, Dilip Tirkey (all Indian Airlines), Gagan Ajit Singh (Air-India), Dinesh Naik, Thirumalvalavan (Tamil Nadu), BC Ponnacha (Central Excise), Kamal Horo (Services), Baljit Singh Dhillon, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Ramandeep Singh (Punjab), Navsheer Singh (Railways), DeepakThakur, Anurag Raghuvanshi (UP), SS Gill (Mumbai), Baljit Singh Saini, Edward Aloysius (PSB), Bimal Lakra (Centre of Excellence). Chief coach: Colonel Harcharan Singh. Assistant coach: CR Kumar. Goalkeeping coach: MR Negi. Team doctor: Shivsharan. Physical conditioner: Sampath.
Probables for South African series: Jagdish Ponnappa, Lazarus Barla, Mukesh Kumar, Ravinder Singh, Brojan Singh (Indian Airlines), Kuljeet Singh, Anwer Khan, Ajinderpal Singh, Rajiv Mishra, Hasrat Qureshi (Railways), Jude Menezes, Dhanraj Pillai (Mumbai), Amarjeet Pratap, Shamshul Jhua (UP), Sridhar Murthy (Tatas), Parminder Singh (PSB), Sarabjeet Singh (Punjab), Amar Ayyamma (Air-India), Cyprian Aind (Services), L Prabhakaran (Tamil Nadu), Bipin Fernandez (Centre of Excellence), Muralidharan (Hyderabad). Coaches: Ramesh Parameshwaran and Harinder Singh.