India: Gagan to lead Jalandhar in NHL  x8
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| India |
November 13, 2004 
The Times of India
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MANISH KUMAR
NEW DELHI: The five teams that will feature in the inaugural National Hockey League (NHL) from January 10 are to be Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jalandhar and Hyderabad.
Striker Gagan Ajit Singh, who is expected to miss the bus for the Champions Trophy in Lahore next month, will lead the Jalandhar team. An IHF official confirmed that five senior players from the present Indian team will be selected to lead the teams in the league. Besides Gagan, midfielder Viren Rasquinha (Mumbai), forward Arjun Halappa (Bangalore), India captain Dilip Tirkey and another medio, Ignace Tirkey are being considered at the moment.
A total of 80 players will be selected by the IHF to participate in the NHL. IHF president K.P.S Gill recently ruled out star forward Dhanraj Pillay for the Indian team but the mercurial striker could turn out for Mumbai in the league. ''Dhanraj is back in the country and playing for Indian Airlines in the domestic tournaments. There is no question of keeping him out and he'll probably play for Mumbai in the NHL,'' said this official.
While each team in the NHL will be allowed a maximum of five players from abroad, it's unlikely there will be so many of them in the first year. Sohail Abbas and a couple of other Pakistani players are also expected. ''We are hopeful that apart from Sohail, three-four others from the Pakistan team will come here,'' the official said. Since the dates for the NHL were recently decided and clash with the leagues in Australia and Europe, their top players might not make it here. Incidentally, two players of the Indian team forwards Sandeep Michael and Arjuna Halappa have received permission from the IHF to play in Barcelona in the Spanish league next year.
Meanwhile, it's finally settled: India's two strikers, Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh, will not be considered for the Champions Trophy. IHF president K P S Gill said on Saturday that Thakur's fitness needed to be examined properly before a decision was taken to recall him. Thakur had suffered a rib injury during a group match at the Athens Olympics. He then underwent treatment and physiotherapy for almost a month and a half at the NIS campus in Patiala.
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