Hockey team ready
for Champions Challenge

Buoyed by the triumph of the junior team, which won the World Cup two months ago, and strengthened by the return of Dhanraj Pillay and Sabu Varkey, India's senior national hockey team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on Monday night to compete in the Champions Challenge tournament, to be held there from December 7 to 15.

The 18-member team, which will be without injured Olympians Baljit Singh Saini and Dilip Tirkey, completed the final preparatory camp under national and FIH coach Cedric D'Souza at the astro turf stadium in Madras on Monday morning.

D'Souza said the morale and team spirit of the team is high. ''We will do well but this outing will be utilised to assess how much the rectification training the players were put through in the last ten months has paid off,'' he said, after the team was felicitated a few hours before departure.

''We have to see how well the blend of mostly youth -- the junior squad players -- and the experienced in the team will click in this tournament,'' he added.

Asked how he far he would expect the team to progress in the tournament, D'Souza said there was no point in making ''tall claims'' on that score.

''It is important to win and I am confident that this team can do it,'' he added.

Apart from India, host Malaysia, Argentina, Belgium, Japan and South Africa will be vying for honours.

The competition, which was originally scheduled to be held in New Delhi, was shifted to Malaysia in wake of the Afghan war, by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

India take on Belgium in their first outing on December 7.

The team:
Goalkeepers: Jude Menezes, Devesh Chauhan.
Full-backs: Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Lazarus Barla.
Half-backs: S S Gill, Ignace Tirkey, Thhurumal Valavan, Vikram Pillay, Bipin Fernandez, Arjun Halappa.
Forwards: Baljit Singh Dhillon, Sabu Varkey, Dhanraj Pillay, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Daljit Singh Dhillon.
Coach: Cedric D'Souza.

The schedule: