Recall of Tirkey and dropping of Deepak raises eyebrows

Jalandhar, Apr 12 (UNI) Former Olympian Col Balbir Singh today questioned the selection process and expressed his surprise at the recall of Dilip Tirkey and Gagan Ajit Singh and the unceremonious dropping of Deepak Thakur from the Indian team for the four-nation hockey tournament scheduled in Germany later this month.

The Gagan Ajit Singh-led team leaves for Germany today and the captain, who is playing in the Dutch Hockey League, will join the squad there.

Former captain Tirkey has been included in place of defender Kanwalpreet Singh who sustained a right thumb fracture during practice in the coaching camp in Gurgaon.

Col Balbir Singh said he could not understand why Tirkey was recalled even though he was injured and not invited in the preparation camp.

''What is the logic behind including an injured player in the team? I don't know what are the selection criteria,'' he said.

He was also of the view that the present team lacks real playmakers.

''The effective halves, who support the defenders and double up as forwards, are just not in the team. We do not have good players at this position,'' he rued.

The former player was here to watch more than 700 young players taking part in the selection trials in the age groups of under-12, under-14 and under-16 for admission in the Surjit Hockey Academy.

Hailing from Sansarpur, once considered nursery of Indian hockey, Col Singh also felt that dropping Deepak Thakur would weakened the forwardline.

''With Deepak's exclusion, the forward line has been considerably weakened. Gagan can strike only if he gets regular supply and Deepak's dropping at this juncture is beyond any reason.'' He was also surprised at the Indian Hockey Federation's (IHF) earlier decision to drop Gagan Ajit and then inviting him to lead the team in Germany.

''I am not against Gagan's selection. I am concerned about the procedure the federation has adopted. Deepak has the capacity and the agility to dribble past defenders and feed his colleagues in the forward line. But he has been shown the door and it's quite baffling. This pair could have raised hopes for the Indian team,'' he added.

On recalling of Jugraj Singh, whose career seemed over after a horrible car accident, Col Singh said, ''He can clear the ball well.

Jugraj cannot effectively use his deadly drag-flick as he cannot straighten his arm and hence he can be fielded with a sweeper defender but he would be useless without the company of two more defenders.'' Meanwhile, it is learnt that Germany, Holland and Spain are fielding their second string teams in the four-nation meet.

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