India won’t be participating in the Junior Asia Cup as Hockey India has not selected a team for the tournament. According to Anupam Gulati, Hockey India had not selected a team for the tournament and the Nationals will be conducted in July so they could not select a team. He also said that that this tournament was a recognized tournament by FIH. But in reality, the tournament is recognized by FIH and Hockey India is sending a team for women’s edition which will be played this month from June 4-12 in Bankok.
2. Hockey India to hire foreign experts. (Indian Express)
Due to unimpressive performance performance in Sultan Azlan Shah, Hockey India has decided to hire foreign experts to help Indian hockey in the future. Hockey India has formed a 5 men committee to find a sports psychologist, technical director and a trainer for the team. Hockey India is said to be pursuing Paul Lassik for the position of technical director. Coach Harendra Singh is set to stay as a coach despite the team’s performance in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
3. Harayana team disqualified from Under-17 nationals. (Indian Express)
Harayana team was disqualified from under-17 men nationals due to fielding overage players. From the 16 member squad, 10 players were overage. The complaint was filed by Bhopal team after it saw Harayana drubbing Bhopal 9-1. After the medical test it was found that 7 players were over 18 years of age while other 3 were more than 17 years.
4. Fitness of players take all the blame for Azlan Shah performance. (Hindustan Times)
Fitness of the players was the major concern for the Indian team poor performance in the Sultan Azlan Shah 2011. Team manager Col. Balbir Singh called India a ’35 min’ team because the team played well only for the first half. But the fault lies with Hockey India for the fitness level of the players. Team were not provided with proper nutritional supplements and equipments which would help in retaining fitness for the players after a lng break. It is also said that coach Harendra Singh took unfit players to the tournament. The players also faced problems in the medical facilities due to unavailability of the team doctor in the tournament.
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