Dilip Tirkey has been retained skipper

Duesseldorf: India made amends for the poor show at the four-nation meet in Amstelveen by just missing the title at the four-nation meet here and then the selectors named veterans Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon in the 16-member Indian squad for the Athens Olympic Games.

India, who finished their last league engagement 3-3 with Germany, missed out on the title because Germany had a better goal difference than India. Both teams were on two wins and a draw.

After the final of the DSD four-nation meet, the team led by defender Dilip Tirkey was announced by Indian Hockey Federation president K. P. S. Gill.

The selection committee, which had come all the way here to witness the team’s performance, opted for a combination of six forwards and five midfielders and three defenders plus the usual two goalkeepers.

The five among the 21 training in Germany who could not make it to the Athens-bound squad are Kawalpreet Singh, Vivek Gupta, Bimal Lakra, Sandeep Michael and Jatinder Pal Singh.

The inclusion of Pillay also put to rest speculations on whether the veteran could make it to his fourth Olympics.

In the final, India paid a heavy price for conceding a last-minute penalty stroke as Germany drew 3-3 to clinch the title at the Deutscher Sportklub.

The Indians dropped Michael and Kanwalpreet from the bench, bringing in Pillay and Lakra.

Thakur, Prabhjot and Gagan Ajit scored for the Indians, while Christoph Bechmann and Christopher Zeller (two goals) sounded the board for the hosts in a fast paced encounter.

India took an early lead when a fourth minute Sandeep Singh crosshit from the right was picked up by Gagan Ajit. The striker set up Thakur in the centre of the striking circle from where he beat German goalkeeper Clemens Arnold with a low shot.

Germany found the equaliser four minutes later when Sascha broke through the defence line of indian captain dilip tirkey and ignace tirkey setting up bechmann, whose crisp volley went undisturbed.

The game rose to spectacular heights as both the teams, playing for the third consecutive day, were prepared to give nothing away. India looked a totally transformed team in this tournament as they found their rhythm and cohesion without hiccups.

Forwards Adam Sinclair combined in tandem with Prabhjot Singh and Gagan Ajit and slipped past his marker, German captain Florian Kunz occassionally. (PTI)