I should have been in Playing XI: Adrian D'Souza

Goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza was shocked when MiD DAY disturbed his afternoon siesta yesterday with the news that he was not part of the 18-member Hockey India-picked national team set to participate in the 1st Asian Men's Champions Trophy at Ordos, China, from 3-11 September. "What? Is that true? I don't believe this," was Adrian's immediate reaction. When told he didn't even make it to the six stand-bys, he was furious.

"How can this be possible? I've been training hard and have fared very well at the trials. As far as skill is concerned, I don't think I'm lacking anywhere. And on the fitness front, I believe I'm one of the fittest players in the camp. I should have been in the playing XI," added the 27-year-old Air-India custodian.

Karnataka's Bharat Chetri and Tamil Nadu's PR Sreejesh will do duty for India under the bar, while Punjab's Kamaldeep Singh has been named as stand-by.

A selector not wanting to be named, however, claimed that Adrian did not have a good outing at the trials. "He missed quite a few balls," he said.

Yuvraj picked
The selectors, however, got it spot-on with their inclusion of the young Yuvraj Valmiki. The 21-year-old forward was grateful to India coach Michael Nobbs. "Coach Nobbs told me that he was very happy with the my game and that I don't need to change anything about it. But he asked me to gain some strength as it would help me in my international assignments," Valmiki said.

The team: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh, Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh, Sardar Singh
Gurbaj Singh, Ignace Tirkey Manpreet Singh, Manjit Kullu,u00a0Rajpal Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, SV Sunil, Ravi Pal, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz, Yuvraj Walmiki.