Former Indian hockey captain, Dilip Tirkey, who is injured, has opted out of playing in the Professional Hockey league starting in Chandigarh next month.
The experienced midfielder was a surprise omission from the 16-member Indian men's hockey team for the Doha Asian Games.
In other matches in the Champions Chellenge hockey tournament, New Zealand beat England while Argentina beat Japan.
Dilip Tirkey, Adrian D'Souza, Gagan Ajit Singh, Sandeep Singh, Viren Rasquinha and Arjun Halappa will leave for Pakistan on September 5.
India rallied after a shaky start to beat Austria 7-3 and post their second successive victory in the Olympic hockey qualifier in Santiago, Chile. Rocked by a second minute goal, India bounced back in a splendid fashion as Dilip Tirkey (9th, 23rd minutes), Shivendra Singh (51st, 55th), Ignace Tirkey (42nd), Bharat Chhikara (53rd) and Rajpal Singh (53rd) struck telling blows.
India scored a not-so-confident 3-2 win in their third test to take a 2-1 lead over a fighting Belgium in their five-test series at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Monday evening.
Orissa Steelers beat Hyderabad Sultans by a solitary goal in the second phase of the Premier Hockey League.
Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur are among many regulars left out of the team, to be coached by Harinder Singh.
The PHL Trophy, made from Swarovski Crystals, was unveiled in Hyderabd on Tuesday.
Australia's Jamie Dwyer and Spain's Santiago Freixa bagged the International Hockey Federation's 'Player of the Year' and 'Young Player of the Year' awards respectively.
Another member of the hockey team Harpal Singh had to be admitted to the hospital after sustaining an injury on his head during practice.
India finally got their penalty corner drill right as they beat Japan 4-3 in their concluding league fixture to finish third in the Champions Challenge hockey tournament in Boom on Saturday.
Prabhjot's Singh goal gave the Indians a narrow victory in their second outing in the Champions Challenge hockey tournament.
Captain Dilip Tirkey said the morale of the team is high after the bronze medal finish in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
India beat New Zealand 3-2 in a practice match prior to Sultan Azlan Shah hockey.
The Indians will be without ace midfielders Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay at the Azlan Shah tournament, which begins on Thursday.
Dilip Tirkey, who had been nursing an ankle injury, said he was ready for the rigours of international hockey
He will lead the Indian team for the six-match home-and-away Indo-Pak hockey series which begins today evening.
Dilip Tirkey and Gagan Ajit Singh have been nominated for the International Hockey Federation's Best Player of the Year award.
India will take on world champions Germany in the opening match of the hockey World Cup.
The Indian hockey team scored a morale-boosting 7-1 win ahead of the World Cup in Germany.
India captain Dilip Tirkey says Australian trainer Derek Knox's assistance helped him regain fitness after a long lay-off from the game.
The Indian hockey team's chief coach said the current team was capable of winning the Olympic title.
India are looking to make amends for the semi-final loss to the Netherlands in the bronze medal play-off in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
India hockey captain Dilip Tirkey says Pillay's experience will be missed at the upcoming Olympic hockey qualifier in Madrid.
Ace defender Dilip Tirkey and goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza were omitted from the 16-member team announced on Tuesday.
Gagan Ajit Singh, Jugraj Singh and Prabhjot Singh are shortlisted Young Player of the Year award, while Devesh Chauhan and Dilip Tirkey are in the running for the senior award.
Dilip Tirkey scored the solitary goal as India beat China 1-0 in their first match of the Asia Cup.
The ace defender was ruled out of the elite six-nation event after suffering a bout of sinusitis.
Injury will also keep Vikram Pillay out of the two Tests against the Spaniards.
Stand-in captain Viren Rasquinha said the absence of the team's senior-most player stood in the way of and Indian victory over Pakistan in the sixth Test.
Dilip Tirkey's side will be looking for another good showing when it meets Pakistan in the third Test of the four-Test series.
India's hockey captain said lack of coordination is the cause of the team's slump in recent tournaments.
India scored twice in each half for a 4-1 win in the Hamburg Masters hockey tournament.
India beat Ireland 6-2 to win the third and last Test in Cologne, Germany.
