New Delhi: It couldn’t have been more unfortunate. Just when it was being thought that Sandeep Singh has finally come of age on the eve of the World Cup at Monchengladbach beginning on September 6, the drag-flicker got injured in an unfortunate accident inside the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express near Kurukshetra on Tuesday.

Sandeep Singh was all set to leave with the team on Thursday.

Terming the incident as “sad and unfortunate”, Indian Hockey Federation president K.P.S. Gill said that IHF would call three players, and one of them could be the possible replacement for injured Sandeep. “Raghunath, Vikramjit Singh and Jugraj Singh have been called and now it is up to coach Baskaran to select one of them.”

While Raghunath is currently playing for the Indian team in the SAF Games at Colombo, Vikramjit is an upcoming player and is also the captain of the Indian U-19 team.

Indian skipper Dilip Tirkey, who arrived with some of the team members in the capital on Tuesday, said it was a big blow for the team just before the World Cup. “We were pinning a lot of hope on Sandeep. We now have to chalk out yet another plan,” said Tirkey.

The veteran defender was not far from the truth. Sandeep got injured at a time when it looked like he was fitting into coach Baskaran’s plans.

Having come to the senior team in 2004, Sandeep’s ability as a defender or midfielder was not taken too seriously by the previous coaches. But this time, though Kamalpreet and Dilip Tirkey were still the main defenders, Baskaran was slowly bringing in Sandeep into the main team.

In Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia and in the Independence Cup in Chennai, the youngster from Indian Airlines was getting a lot of chances to show his skills as a penalty corner specialist. Previously in many matches, he had found himself sitting on the bench when India were awarded penalty corners.

Unlike Jugraj Singh, Sandeep was not regarded as the trump card because of his inconsistency and apparent lack of variations, but everyone in the squad looked up to him to unfold his real talent in the World Cup.

Sandeep’s conversion rate at the junior level was quite high as he sent nearly 60 per cent of the penalty corners into the net.

He was never so prolific with the senior side, but as Tirkey said, the Indian team at the moment has no drag flicker better than Sandeep. “Arjun Halappa and Raghunath are there, but I am not sure how they will shape up in such a short time.”