Pak tour cancelled, Indian juniors turn to Argentina

NEW DELHI: The last-minute cancellation of Indian junior hockey team's Pakistan tour has jolted the side's preparation for next year's Junior World Cup, but an unfazed chief coach A K Bansal says he is eyeing next month's Argentina tour to finetune his strategies.
    
Indian junior team was scheduled to play a five-match Test series against Pakistan this month, but the tour was called off at the eleventh hour after the Ministry of External Affairs refused to give permission citing security fears.
    
Bansal says he is disappointed by the cancellation but admitted the security fears were unavoidable.
    
"Obviously, the cancellation of the tour is a big disappointment for the entire team as we have been looking forward to the series for long.
    
"The team had some fresh boys and we wanted to try them out in the series. Even the senior players were excited about the tour. We wanted to try out some technical things, strategies and set plays, but security of players is the top priority.
    
"Yesterday, also a blast took place in Peshawar just outside the stadium where we were supposed to play a match," Bansal said on Wednesday after returning from Amritsar.

Bansal, who led India to the Junior Asia Cup triumph in Hyderabad earlier this year, said his wards will now take part in the Senior Nehru Hockey tournament in Gurgaon from Friday to get the much-needed match practice.
    
"The team will now take part in the Senior National Nehru Hockey tournament before heading to Argentina next month. We are now eagerly looking forward to the Argentina tour to implement our strategies," he said.
    
Captain Diwakar Ram echoed the coach and said his team was now looking forward to play in the Nehru tournament.
    
"It is a disappointment for all of us. There were some new players in the team who were excited about the tour, but the government might have taken the decision considering our safety," said the promising young drag-flicker from Uttar Pradesh.
     
"Our disappointment, to some extent, has been reduced by the opportunity to play in the Nehru tournament. We wanted to play some matches together to gel among ourselves, and we will get that chance in the Nehru tournament.
    
Diwakar admitted that the level of competition in the Nehru tournament would hardly match that of an international tourney but "most of the senior players are playing their and we would learn from them."
    
The Junior World Cup is scheduled in June next year in Singapore and Johor Bahru, Malaysia.