Three days after Indian Hockey Federation chief K P S Gill was sacked by the Indian Olympic Association, the new selection committee reversed one of his decisions by deciding to send a different team for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia.
A development team, having a few senior players in it, was recommended to the Sports Ministry by the erswhile IHF, but the new selection committee, which met on Thursday, decided to change the squad though it retained some players from the old list.
The committee also decided to retain A K Bansal as head coach of the team for the tournament, starting May 8.
Chairman of the committee Aslam Sher Khan expressed surprise that Joaquim Carvalho, currently coach of the senior team, did not figure in the original list pick for the Malaysia trip.
"We have decided to send a mix of players, some from the old list and some new players. But there will not be any change to sending A K Bansal as coach," Aslam said after the meeting, also attended by the Indian team's Technical Director and selection committee advisor Ric Charlesworth.
One of the members, Dhanraj Pillay, did not attend the meeting. He is expected on Friday for another round to finalise the team which will leave for Malaysia on May 5.
"I was surprised that the erstwhile IHF had wanted to send Bansal instead of Carvalho, whose resignation after the Olympic qualification fiasco was not accepted," Aslam said.
