Six juniors in camp for hockey World Cup

Six youngsters were rewarded for their performance in the Indian junior hockey team's title triumph at Poland last month with a place in the list of 25 probables for World Cup later this year.

Forwards V Raja and Roshan Minz, full-back Raghunath, goalkeeper Sreejesh and midfielders Ajmer Singh and Nitin Kumar will now undergo training with the rest of the probables at a camp starting at the Sports Authority of India in Bangalore on Friday.

Former captain and midfielder Ignace Tirkey and defender Harpal Singh are back in reckoning after regaining fitness, a statement from the Indian Hockey Federation said.

All the 17 members of the team that won the bronze medal at the eight-nation Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur recently found a place among the probables.

The first phase of the camp will continue till July 22. After a short break, it will resume at Chennai from August 1 and will continue till the team's departure for the World Cup, to be staged at Monchengladbach, Germany, from September 6-17.

Chief coach V Bhaskaran will conduct the camp along with coach Harendra Singh.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D'Souza, Bharat Chetri, Sreejesh.

Full-backs: Dilip Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, Kanwalpreet Singh, Harpal Singh, Raghunath.

Midfielders: V S Vinay, Vikram Pillay, Viren Rasquinha, Bimal Lakra, Nitin Kumar, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Ajmer Singh.

Forwards: Arjun Halappa, Hari Prasad, Tejbir Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, V Raja, Roshan Minz.