CHENNAI: The press release from Hockey India, which dropped at 11.28am on Friday, spent considerable time talking about Rupinderpal Singh’s comeback. The drag-flick specialist had suffered a series of small injuries. So news of his inclusion for the upcoming World League Final was welcome. The talking point, however, centred around the exclusion of Sardar Singh.
The versatile midfielder has lost a yard of pace over the last few years and this could potentially be seen as the team management slowly phasing him out. A couple of the senior figures in HI wanted Oltmans to give younger players an opportunity in that position, something which the former coach Roelant Oltmans refused to entertain.
David John, High Performance Director, refused to get drawn into a debate on whether this meant the end of the road for the 31-year-old. “No. He has not been given that information or impression,” he said. “He’s like Surender (Kumar), Ramandeep (Singh) and Satbir (Singh), they have missed out on this tournament. We are looking forward to playing our best combination next year.”
While that’s a mantra they have sung in the past, playing Sardar in a B-grade competition like the Asia Cup before not picking him for this sends out a message that he does not figure in the larger scheme of things. Both David and coach Sjoerd Marijne did not explicitly admit it, but the former hinted this could be the case. “Everything we are doing is for those tournaments next year (Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup). He has not been selected for this tournament because we are trying another combination.” Given this will be India’s biggest test between now and the World Cup, it seems strange to omit him unless their minds are already made up.
There was a return for defender Birendra Lakra, who has had a horror time with injuries. He has impressed David in training. “He’s had two-and-a-half months of full practice under match conditions,” the Australian said. “He ran fitness tests two days ago (and cleared).”
There aren’t many changes (14 of the 18 that played in the Asia Cup figure). If they manage to do well, the noise surrounding Sardar’s omission will drop a notch or two heading into the World Cup year.
Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, Suraj Karkera; Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra; Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (C), Chinglensana Singh (VC), SK Uthappa, Sumit, Kothajit Singh; Forwards: SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com