New Delhi: Injured midfielder Gurbaj Singh was on Monday left out of India's 32-member probables announced for the hockey Olympic Qualification tournament to be held here from February 18 to 26.
However, despite raising doubts on striker Rajpal Singh's availability for the Olympic qualifiers, India's chief hockey coach Michael Nobbs decided to retain the former captain - who has recently undergone an operation for appendicitis - in the core probables.
Gurbaj, who sustained a injury on his right knee during the start of second phase of the preparatory camp here earlier this month, is the only notable absentee.
He did not play in India's just-concluded five-match Test series against South Africa, which formed the basis of the naming of the probables. Even though the team management said that Gurbaj's injury was not serious, he has been advised rest for three weeks.
Hockey India selectors Balbir Singh, BP Govinda, Syed Ali along with chief coach Michael Nobbs and government observers Harbinder Singh and Dilip Tirkey pruned down the number of probables from 45 to 32 after watching the Test series against South Africa, which India won 3-1.
"The core probable players were tested in these matches so as to determine the best possible team that would represent the country in the Olympic Qualifier Tournament," HI said in a statement on Monday.
The list will be further reduced to 18 players with four standbys for the Olympic Qualifiers to be played at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
Besides India, the other participating teams in the tournament are Canada, France, Poland, USA and Italy.
Probables:
Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh.
Defenders: Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath, Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Manjeet Kullu.
Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Vikram Pillay, Vikas Sharma Arjun Halappa, Manpreet Singh, VS Vinaya, Kothajit Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Birendra Lakra.
Forwards: Rajpal Singh, SV Sunil, Sarvanjit Singh, Shivendra Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Tushar Khandker, S K Uthappa, Ravipal, Chinglensana Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki, Mandeep Antil, Dharamveer Singh, Bharat, Danish Mujtaba, Akashdeep Singh.
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