U-23 Indian squad to be announced on July 22

The Indian under-23 football squad for the six-nation Asia Cup will be announced on July 22.

Project director for the Asian Games Santo Mitra, said a squad of 22 players will leave for Ho Chi Minh on July 30 to take part in the six-nation LG Cup tournament.

India is clubbed with Singapore and Vietnam in Group A, while the seniors from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand comprise Group B.

The squad is currently training in Jamshedpur under newly-appointed British coach Stephen Constantine with an eye on the Busan Asian Games.

India meet Singapore on August 2 and Vietnam on August 8. The semis would be on August 8 and the final on August 10.

Baichung Bhutia, who joined the camp on Monday, went through a rigorous training session along with 32 probables at the J R D Tata sports complex.

The four-week camp began on July 7.

"The boys are in fine shape and acclimatising well in the camp," Mitra said, expressing satisfaction over the arrangements.

"The joining of Bhutia will certainly infuse enthusiasm among other players," he said, adding senior players like Jo Paul Ancheri had joined the camp last week.

Following are the probables for the Asian Games:

Goalkeepers: Sangram Mukherjee, Rajat Ghosh Dasti (IFA), Virender Singh (Punjab), Gumpe Rime (Karnataka).

Defenders: Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik (Goa), Deepak Mondal, M. Suresh, Satish Bharti, Aroon Malhotra (IFA) Tapan Ghosh, I. Surkumar Singh, Mani Tombi Singh, Debjit Ghosh (WIFA).

Midfielders: Noel Wilson, Rocky Barreto (Goa), Renedy Singh, Dipankar Roy, Jamesh Singh, Chandan Das, Sasty Duley, S Venkatesh (IFA), Tomba Singh (WIFA), K. Ajayan (Goa).

Forwards: Alex Ambrose, Jules Alberto (Goa), Asif Saheer (Kerala), Bijen Singh, Baichung Bhutia, Jo Paul Ancheri (IFA), Abhishek Yadav, Khaleed Jamil (WIFA), Parveen Kumar.

- UNI