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Riaz, Chauhan to lead IHF teams

The Indian Hockey Federation today announced two different teams for the forthcoming tours of South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

After chairing a meeting of the selection committee, IHF president KPS Gill announced that half-back Mohammad Riaz will captain of a 16-member squad for the tour of South Africa, while forward Rajesh Chauhan of Air India will lead the team that will tour Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Mr Gill said ace defender Dilip Tirkey was not considered for selection as he had fitness problems. "We have decided to give him a four-week rest; he can be considered later on," he added.

The team for the South African tour will play five Test matches with the South African national team and proceed to Australia to participate in a four-nation tournament.

The Rajesh Chauhan-led team will play two friendly matches in Zimbabwe before moving to Kenya to participate in a four-nation tournament. After returning home, the team is likely to participate in the Lal Bahadur Shastri international tournament and the Asia Cup.

Replying to a question, Gill said care has been taken to balance both the teams. "Each team has its weaknesses and strong points," he remarked.

The teams: For the South African tour:
Goalkeepers: Edward Aloysious and Jude Menezes.
Full-backs: Anuraj Rajuvanshi, Lazarus Barla, Dinesh Nayak.
Halves: Baljit Saini, Thirumalaya, Mohammad Riyaz, Ramandeep Singh, Kamal Horo.
Forwards: Brojen Singh, Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajit Singh, Baljit Dhillon, L Prabhakaran, Samir Dad.
Vasudevan Bhaskaran will be the coach and will be assisted by Ramesh Parmeshwaran. For the tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya: '
Goalkeepers: Murli Krishna and Ambuj Srivastava.
Full-backs: Ajay Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Baljit Singh Chandi.
Halves: Cheops D'Costa, Anwar Khan, S S Gill, Vikram Pillai, Harbhajan Singh.
Forwards: A Senthil, Cyprian Aind, Rajesh Chauhan, Ajinder Pal Singh, Ravinder Singh, Y S Rawat.
Balwinder Singh, a former national player and presently coach of the Railways, will be the coach and will be assisted by Sujit Kumar of Indian Airlines.

UNI