Stimac releases 6 players from India camp, hands them chart

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) Head coach Igor Stimac has released six more players from the ongoing preparatory camp in the Capital as India prepare for their upcoming challenge in the King's Cup to be played Thailand. The second batch of players released includes Narayan Das, Salam Ranjan Singh, Dhanpal Ganesh, Rowllin Borges, Komal Thatal. Central defender Anwar Ali (Jr) has also been released owing to an injury.

The final list of 23 players will be announced prior to departure to Buriram. Stimac, said that it is always difficult for the coach to take hard decisions, and release players. "We are more than happy with the commitment of the players so far, and have really enjoyed working with them every day," Stimac said. "They are passionate, excited, and are making obvious progress on a daily basis," he added.

"The hardest part of the job comes when decisions are to be done about releasing some of them after hard work they put in for the past ten days," he explained.

"After yesterday's (May 29) game which we played as part of our evening training session, we decided to release another 6 players. All of them have been handed their individual working programme which is to be followed, and monitored. I wish them good luck, and expect them to be working hard," the coach revealed.

The Blue Tigers will be leaving for Buriram en route Bangkok on June 2. The King's Cup is a FIFA-sanctioned International 'A' tournament being organised by the Football Association of Thailand since 1968. India last participated in the King's Cup in 1981.