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This is an archive article published on July 20, 1997

Saini to lead juniors

CHANDIGARH, July 19: Versatile Olympian half-back Baljit Singh Saini was today named captain of the 21-member junior Indian hockey team for...

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CHANDIGARH, July 19: Versatile Olympian half-back Baljit Singh Saini was today named captain of the 21-member junior Indian hockey team for the four-week long European tour in preparation for the Junior World Cup to be held in Milton Keynes, England, this September.

The squad are slated to participate in the MCC tournament at Chennai from July 25 before embarking on the tour.The other Olympian in the squad, Dilip Tirkey, will be Saini’s deputy.

The highest scorer in the recently held National junior championship, Gagan Ajit Singh, however, is not in the team. Eleven players who represented the country in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Singapore last year have been dropped as they were overage for the World Cup.

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The five survivors from that squad are Saini Dilip Tirkey, Baljeet Singh Chandi, Teja Singh and YS Rawat. Announcing the squad here, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president KPS Gill said that the selected players will remain in the ongoing camp till July 22 and then leave for Chennai.

Team: Goalkeepers: Teja Singh (PSB), Jagdish Ponappa (Mumbai); full- backs: Dilip Tirkey (vice-captain, IA), Lazarus Barla (Rlys), Gurmail Singh (PSB), Ajay Kumar (A-I); half-backs: Baljit Singh Saini (captain, PSB), Anwar Khan (Rlys), Navsher Singh (Rlys), Baljit Singh Chandi (PSB),Allan Barla (IA) and MA Bopanna (Karnatka); forwards: Ravinder Singh, YS Rawat, Virinder Singh, Samir Dad, (IA) Rajiv Mishra (Rlys), Harbhajan Singh (BSF), Rajesh Chauhan (A-I), Senthal Nathan (TN) and Cyprian Aind (Karnataka). Coaches: V Bhaskaran and R Premeshwaran.

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