Indian hockey team leaves for Germany

Bangalore, June 10 (UNI) Indian men's hockey team today left here to Dusseldorf, Germany, for some practice matches before proceeding to Belgium to participate in the Champions Challenge Tournament scheduled to be played from June 23 to July 1.

After training in Dusseldorf, the team would play three practice matches against club teams there.

Chief Coach Joaquim Carvalho said, ''We will be in Germany for acclimatisation and the practice match would help the players''.

''The boys are all set and we have worked on our weak points.

When we went for the Azlan Shah Cup, the players were all not familar to me. Now we had two camps, there is a lot less load on me, whereas I was under a little pressure before the Aslan Shah Cup'', he said.

The team would reach Boom on June 20 and would play first match against New Zealand on June 24, Belgium on June 26, Argentina on June 28 and Japan on June 30.

Meanwhile, second goal keeper Baljit Singh, who was admitted to a hospital with urinary infection on Friday, had recovered and will leave with the team.

Before leaving to Germany, the players had a 15-day camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Southern Centre, on the city outskirts.

The team: Goal Keepers: Adrian D'Souza, Baljit Singh. Fullbacks: William Xalco, Sandeep Singh, Dilip Tirkey. Midfielders: Sunil Yadav, Gurbaz, Bimal Lakra, Sardara Singh, Vikram Kranth, Probodth Tirkey (Captain), Forwards: Rajpal Singh, Bharath Chikkara, Roshan Minz, Tushar Khandekar, Shivender Singh, Prabjoth Singh, Damandeep Singh.

Standbyes: Bharath Chetri, Raghunath, Ajitesh Rai, Yudwir Singh, Sunil Kumar. Chief Coach: Joaquim Carvalho, Coach: M P Singh, Asst Coach-Video Analyst, Physio: Srikanth, Maseur: Nagraj, Manager: R K Shetty.

UNI