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Discontent over captains

The players feel dejected as Viren Rasquinha, who has not been part of the Indian team for over a year, has been favoured as captain of Maratha Warriors instead of Adrian D’Souza.

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Some players have complained that seniority was ‘disregarded’ while naming the teams’ skippers

CHENNAI: Upset over their seniority being ‘disregarded’ while choosing captains for the seven teams of this year’s Premier Hockey League, several members of the Indian senior squad have complained that it has denied them a chance to gain valuable experience in the prestigious tournament.

The players feel dejected as Viren Rasquinha, who has not been part of the Indian team for over a year, has been favoured as captain of Maratha Warriors instead of Adrian D’Souza.

Same is the case with Adam Sinclair, who has been named the Chennai Veerans skipper. Similarly, Dilip Tirkey, captain of Orissa Steelers, has been preferred, ignoring Indian skipper Prabodh Tirkey. Rajpal Singh and Tushar Khandekar have been made captains of Chandigarh Dynamos and Bangalore Hi-Fliers, “disregarding” the seniority of Prabhjot Singh and Bimal Lakra, respectively.

Likewise, Kanwalpreet Singh, who is captain of Sher-e-Jalandhar, is not there in the Indian team at present.

Reacting to the players’ grievances, an Indian Hockey Federation official said: “Most of the nominations are justified. While choosing the captain, we don’t take into account if he is currently in the squad or not. They are all proven performers. Like Dilip (Tirkey) is the country’s best fullback and more qualified for the job than Prabodh on the basis of his experience. Viren Rasquinha and Adam Sinclair are quality players.”

The IHF official further added that while the respective State associations were given the right to pick their teams, the captains were nominated by a three-member committee of the IHF, Leisure Sports Management and the ESPN.

“There was confusion even in the distribution of players. Orissa wanted Ignace Tirkey, who had played for Bangalore last year, in place of Bimal Lakra. Orissa Steelers now have two left-halfs in their team in Ignace and Prabodh,” the official added. The league begins on December 20.

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