Netherlands leave Indians in the lurch

The Netherlands, aiming to break the jinx of winning back-to-back Olympic gold medal following their 1996 Atlanta triumph, have scheduled a Test series with Argentina. "Holland are playing against Argentina to prepare for the Sydney Games," Jothikumaran, who is also Indian Hockey Federation’s secretary, said.

India’s much awaited face-off with the world champions, albiet for a 30-minute practice match thus stood cancelled leaving the medal hopefuls a bit disappointed. There is likely to be a bit of change in the exhibition matches scheduled on the competition pitch in the Homebush Bay facility in Sydney, Jothikumaran said.

India, grouped in pool B with Australia, Spain, Poland, Argentina and Korea, were to play against Canada and England in the Olympic Stadium before the start of the September 15-October 1 Games.

"Canada are confirmed but Britain are still doubtful. We are negotiating with Malaysia if England pull out," Jothikumaran said adding that a match against New South Wales’ top league team has also been fixed.

Led by mid-fielder Ramandeep Singh, India are currently training hard at the 20-day base camp in Murwillinbah. "The entire 22-member team is working hard to be ready for competition. The morale is high and we are organising some matches with Brisbane and Queensland teams," Jothikumaran said.

The matches will be played sometime between August 30 and September 5, he said. "They (Australian state teams) don’t want to exert too much as they have their domestic grand finals on September 8 and 9," he added.

India, on Tuesday, picked a 16-member team for the Sydney Games but are keeping the remaining six players also for two reasons — one to have someone in competition mode if any of the selected players gets injured and second to give them much-needed international exposure.

Jothikumaran described the training facilities as "superb". "The stadium here is world class and with zero pollution and cold climatic conditions the boys are finding it better for hard training. Just yesterday we had hill training. With cold conditions, we can work hard and all the players are doing that with focussed mind," he added.