India Pre-Olympic Qualifier probables named

The Indian national Under-23 team will be taking part in the Asian qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics. And due to our ranking we will have to play in the pre-Olympic qualifiers in which we face Myanmar home-and-away in Round 1.

India will host their Eastern neighbours on February 23 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, while the return-leg will be played on March 9 in their capital Yangoon.

In total 24 players have been called to the camp, 19 of them from the AIFF developmental I-League side with the five others playing for I-League sides. A final squad of 18 will be announced after a short one week camp which will be held from February 17. But with most of the boys playing together for the Indian Arrows less time for adjustment would be needed with players like Arindam, Nirmal and Robin bringing in some added experience.

It wasn't announced who will coach the India U-23 side, but with most of the boys from the Indian Arrows it is likely that their club coach Desmond Bulpin will take charge of the team with former under-23 coach Sukhvinder Singh no longer with the federation.


INDIA U-23 Probables

Goalkeepers
Arindam Bhattacharya (Churchill Brothers SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Indian Arrows), Jagroop Singh (Indian Arrows)

Defenders
Abhishek Das (Indian Arrows), R. Vishal Kumar (Indian Arrows), Raju Eknath Gaekwad (Indian Arrows), Nirmal Chetri (East Bengal Club), Deepak Devrani (Indian Arrows), Lalrozama Fenai (Indian Arrows), Nalappan Mohanraj (Mohun Bagan AC)

Midfielders
Jibon Singh (Indian Arrows), Shilton D'Silva (Indian Arrows), Jewel Raja Sheikh (Indian Arrows), Ongnam Milan Singh (Indian Arrows), Subodh Kumar (Indian Arrows), Lalrindika Ralte (Indian Arrows), Bikramjit Singh (Indian Arrows)

Forwards
Jeje Lalpekhlua (Indian Arrows), Malsawmfela (Indian Arrows), Robin Singh (East Bengal Club), C.S. Sabeeth (Viva Kerala), Inderpreet Singh (Indian Arrows), Jagtar Singh (Indian Arrows), Manandeep Singh (Indian Arrows)