Dhanraj Pillay, who led India to its maiden Asia Cup title in Malaysia last week, was the notable omission as the Indian Hockey Federation on Friday named 24 probables for the inaugural Afro-Asian Games, starting in Hyderabad on October 24.
Pillay will, however, join the camp along with six more players who were dropped, for the India-Netherlands Test series in December and the January 8-18 Sultan Azlan Shah tournament, IHF secretary general K Jyothikumaran said in a statement.
Though an official reason was not given for Dhanraj's omission, a source in the IHF said the striker is being 'rested' in view of other major engagements ahead.
Others who were in the Asia Cup squad but omitted from the Afro-Asian Games list include Baljit Singh Dhillon, Baljit Singh Saini, Dinesh Nayak, Didar Singh, Tejbir Singh and goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh.
The 24 probables for the Afro-Asian Games will attend a coaching camp, starting in Delhi on October 6. Another camp would be held after the Games in preparation for the Dutch series and the Azlan Shah tournament.
Probables:
Devesh Chauhan,
Adrian D' Souza,
Raj Rajan,
Dilip Tirkey,
Sandeep Singh,
Harpal Singh,
Len Aiyappa,
Bimal Lakra,
Vikram Pillay,
V S Vinay,
Prabodh Tirkey,
Viren Rasquinha,
Vivek Gupta,
Ignace Tirkey,
Kanwalpreet Singh,
Gagan Ajit Singh,
Deepak Thakur,
Prabhjot Singh,
Sandeep Michael,
Tushar Khandekar,
Adam Sinclair,
Sardar Singh,
Hari Prasad
Birendra Lakra.
Officials:
Rajinder Singh (chief coach),
Baldev Singh (coach),
A B Subbaiah (goalkeeping coach)
Sampath Kumar (trainer).
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