HI announces 33 probables for wc
New Delhi: Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and defender Gurbaj Singh were amongst the 33 core probables announced by Hockey India (HI) on Wednesday for the FIH Hockey World Cup to be held in The Hague, Netherlands from May 31. The players will undergo a preparatory camp from March 9 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here. Both Sandeep and Gurbaj have remained out-of-favour since India's disastrous Olympics outing in 2012. Goalkeeper P T Rao has been axed due to his indifferent form, and replaced by Harjot Singh who played for debutants Kalinga lancers in Hockey India league. The probables were shortlisted for the camp by Roelant Oltmans, Director High Performance, Terry Walsh, Chief Coach Senior Men Hockey Team and Harbinder Singh Government Observer during a meeting held on February 25. The month-long camp will end on April 10.
Probables list
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh, Sushant Tirkey
Defenders: Gurbaj Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, V R Raghunath, Birendra lakra, Gurmail Singh, Kothajit Singh, Khadangbam, Gurjinder Singh, Gurinder Singh, Sandeep Singh, Vikram Kanth.
Midfielders: S K Uthappa, Dharamvir Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Satbir Singh, Devinder Sunil Walmiki, Vikas Pillay, Jasjit Singh
Forwards: Nikkin Thimmaiah, Nithin Thimmaiah, S V Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf, Yuvraj Walmiki, Talwinder Singh, lalit Upadhyay.
Chhattisgarh beat Kerala 3-2
lucknow: Chhattisgarh rallied from two-goal deficit to beat Kerala 3-2 in a thrilling match of the 4th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship here on Wednesday. Kerala started the match with great speed and they took the lead in the 18th minute when Sarin scored through a field goal. They doubled the lead just a minute before the end of first half with Jithu Sasi scoring another field goal. Chhattisgarh regrouped themselves in the second half and Shakeel Ahmed managed to keep his cool and scored through a penalty corner in the 54th minute. Eight minutes later, Chhattisgarh restored parity through a field goal by Mohd Erfan Khan. The team did not stop there and scored the match-winner in the 69th minute through Upendra Pillay. In another match, Puducherry mauled Tripura 11-1. While Tripura's Arif Hussain started the goal scoring in the ninth minute, it was Puducherry who then rained with goals. A Tamilarasan scored a hat-trick with all his goals coming in the second half. M Harikrishna, V Karthikeyan and N Kamalakannan scoring two goals each. In the third match of the day, Odisha thrashed Mizoram 6-0.
Big day for Diego Costa
Madrid: All eyes will be on Brazil-born forward Diego Costa when Spain entertain Italy in the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Wednesday night. Despite never having played for Spain, the Atletico Madrid player is in pole position to lead the Spanish attack in the 2014 World Cup finals, something that was made clear by coach Vicente del Bosque's decision to select him ahead of rivals such as David Villa or Fernando llorente for the last friendly match before he names his preliminary squad for the summer, reports Xinhua. Costa will make his debut in the same ground he plays for his club and can be assured of a rapturous reception from the fans for what is perhaps the most important game of his life.