Prabhjot pays for poor show

Thakur too axed from probables

After their poor showing in the World Cup where India finished eighth, forwards Deepak and Prabhjot, the two seniormost players, were easy targets for selectors who met on Thursday to pick the probables. The rest of the World Cup squad made it to the national camp in Pune from April 13.

The overwhelming view of the selectors was that they should take charge of the entire selection process if they have to face the music if the team does not perform well. 

The selection committee was worried over the “lack of quality goalkeepers and defenders.”

Forward SV Sunil, who was unfortunate to miss the World Cup with a knee inury, has been named in the the list.

Meanwhile, Prabhjot and Thakur claimed they have been made scapegoats for the team’s poor show in the recent World Cup. “Hockey is all about team work and if the whole team has fared badly in the World Cup, then why the selectors have made us the scapegoat? They should have changed the whole team,” a fuming Prabhjot said.

“I came to know about the news from media only. We were asked by coach Jose Brasa to be prepared for the coaching camp and then we got this treatment. I will wait for Brasa to return from vacation and explain things to us,” Prabhjot added.

Ajitpal Singh, a government observer who attended the selection meeting on Thursday, said the list has been prepared keeping in mind the recent performance of the players.
IANS

Probables: Goalkeepers: Adrian D’ souza, PR Sreejesh, Bharat Chetri, Dinesh Ekka, Jaswinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh.

Defenders: Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Diwakar Ram, Dhananjay Mahadik, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Prabhakar, Sunil Yadav

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, Sardar Singh, Ravi Pal Singh, Vikas Pillay, Ajitesh Roy, VS Vinaya, Birender Lakra (Jr), Vikas Sharma, Virenderjit Singh, Amardeep Ekka  Rajesh Kumar, Preetinder Singh, Jasjeet Kular, Vikas Choudhary
Forwards: Tushar Khandkar, Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Arjun Halappa, Roshan Minz, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Hari Prasad, SV Sunil, Bikas Toppo, Bharat Chikara, Dharamvir Singh, Mandeep Antil, Mohmmad Amir Khan, Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, S Arumugam.