MK Kaushik returns to coach Indian men's hockey

New Delhi, Sep 18: Ending months of speculation, Maharaj Krishan Kaushik was named chief coach of the National hockey team till the 2010 Asian Games.

The selection committee of the IOA-run Adhoc IHF also shortlisted 48 players in prepration for the 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games. Kaushik will be assisted by three other coaches - former Olympian Ramandeep Singh, Harinder Singh and Romeo James. AK Bansal will remain the chief coach of the Junior National team till the next year's World Cup to be held in Singapore and Malaysia. He will have former Junior world cupper Rajesh Chauhan and Mumbai's Clerance Lobo as coaches.

Chairman of selection committee Ajitpal Singh told UNI here that the other support staff for the senior and junior teams will be selected with the consultation of the coaches later.

However, Kaushik's selection has left the Indian Women Hockey Federation in quandary, because he was their chief coach till now.

''I can't say who will be the new coach for the women's team because we were not given any time or choice to think about the other coach'' IWHF secretary Amrit Bose told UNI here this evening.

''Neither IOA nor the Adhoc IHf informed us about this appointment,'' Ms Bose said adding, ''It was IWHF who got Kaushik released from the Haryana Sports Department to coach the women's team and now we get this news.'' Ajitpal was very happy with Kaushik's choice saying, ''He (Kaushik) has all the credantials that a successful coach needs to have.'' Kaushik was coach of the India (men) team which won 1998 Bangkok Asian Games Gold and was coach of the women's team which won the silver medal at Melbourne Commonweealth Games.

The 48 probables were shortlisted by the selection committee comprising Ajit Pal Singh (chairman), Ashok Kumar, Aslam Sher Khan, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillay. The probables: Goalkeepers : Adrian D'Souza, Baljeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Shreejesh P R, Bharat Chetri.

Full backs : William Xalxo, Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Diwakar Ram, Innocent Kullu, Manjeet Kullu, Samir Baxla, Tasavur Jeet Singh.

Midfielders : Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, Sardar Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Birinder Lakra, Ravi Pal Singh, Amardeep Ekka, Vikas Pillay, Cheeyanna, Vikas sharma, Vivek, Irshad Ali, Koushalender, Senthil Forwards : Tushar khandkar, Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Arjun Halappa, Prabhjot Singh, Roshan Minz, Birinder Lakra, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Hari Prasad, S V Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Namdhari, Jagwant Singh, Pramod kumar, Sarvanjit Singh, Mandip Antil, Osafur Rahman, Mazhar Kamal, Mohd Taj, Aldin D'souza, Sunil Sonkar The probables have been selected on their proformance in various domestic and international competitions including junior Asia Cup and Azlan Shah hockey tournament.

A few upcoming and talented players have also been included keeping in view the future international competition in the coming years.

The nucleus of the team has been focused keeping in mind international competitions in 2010 and London Olympic Games, 2012.

UNI