Former captain and setter Kapil Dev, attacker Sanjay Kumar and Jitendra, who were not in the Volleyball Federation of India’s (VFI) scheme of things a month or so ago, make a comeback to the national team for the second Commonwealth Volleyball Championships beginning in Kolkata on July 29.
The trio was not considered for the team that won the Central Asian Zone championships in Islamabad last month for reasons not relating to performance, but have now been included in the 12-member team for the Kolkata event announced by the VFI here on Tuesday.
Darshan Singh, Shahim and Lalit Kumar have been dropped from the team that went to Islamabad.
Following the return of the seasoned campaigners, chief coach G E Sridharan will have more options at his disposal in times of crisis. India have been clubbed with strong contenders Australia, among others, in Group ‘A’ of the seven-day championships.
The other teams in India’s group are Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Defending champions Canada are grouped alongside Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa in Group ‘B’.
The team: PS Srikanth (capt), Vibin M George, Sanjay Kumar, Jitendra, Mandeep Singh, Gurchand Singh, G Pradeep, Sube Singh, N Shelton Moses, KJ Kapil Dev, M Ukkrapandian, R Sivarajan (libero).