BANGALORE: Ace fullback Pargat Singh of Railways has regained his place while fellow defender Mohinder Pal Singh of Indian Airlines has been retained captain of the Holland bound Indian team which ‘was announced here on March 11th.

Four changes have been made in the side that took partin the Indira Gandhi International Tournament at Luck now in January. Apart from Pargat, goalkeeper A.B, Subbaiah, Nagender Kumar Singh and Subodh Khandekar have been included in the 16 strong squad which will be participating in the three national tournaments at AmstelVeen from March 24 to 27%.

The team announced by Indian Hockey Federation’s Senior vice president Mr. D’S. Murthy who deputized for selection committee chairman and IHF president R. Prasaid is Goalkeepers: Ashis Ballal and A.B. Subbaihah, Fullbacks: M.P. Singh (captain) Pargat Singh and Nagender Kumar Singh, Half backs Sujit Kumar (vice captain) B. Subramani Ashok Kumar and Vivek Singh.

Forwards: Subodh Khandekar, Jude Feix, Jagbir Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Thoiba Singh, Vinod Chinnappa and Atif Idris: Coaches: M.P. Ganesh and M.K Kaushik.

Those dropped from the Luck now team are: Goalkeeper Aloysius Edwards, Vir Pratap Singh, Kulajeet Meetai and Kripalgh.

The selection committee took pains to explain that the main target of the Indian team is the Beijing Asian Games next year and that certain players would be tried out in some of the forthcoming tournaments before finalizing the squad for the Asiad. ‘When the selection is viewed in this light, the inclusion of Nagender and Khandekar he comes significant. Nagender’s claims were overlooked last season as well as for the Luck now tournament while right winger Khandekar despite his consistency was among the reserves for the Indira Gandhi Gold Cup.

Pargat’s indiscretions in January have been swept under the carpet and his international career has been given a fresh lease off life. And obviously India needs the services of this gifted player who the discerning reckon is still the best of the lot.

Efforts are being made to help Pasreat regain his confidence and overcome the trauma of the controversy that surrounded him after his walkout in January. In this respect the selection committee has been rather magnanimous in giving the player a second chance.

Meanwhile, IHF secretary, Mr. Kishan Lal Pasi who attended the three-day trials here, admitted that India would have been better off by keeping away from the Holland Tournament, where the team is scheduled to play just two games, one against the host country and the second against Great Britain, But we had already committed ourselves last year and we could not withdraw because of the penalty it would attract from the Interactional Hockey Federation,” Passi said.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 24, 1989