Thaindian News

Chennai, Nov 23 (IANS) Not a single player from India, who failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, figures in the all-Stars men’s and women’s teams announced by the International Hockey Federation (IHF) Sunday.While almost all the players picked themselves in the two teams, the inclusion of Pakistan forward Rehan Butt, who had a poor tournament at the Beijing Olympics, came as a big surprise.

Butt, barring a few runs on the flanks, was inconspicuous throughout the fortnight-long competition in Beijing where Pakistan finished an unflattering seventh.

In contrast, Australia’s Des Abbott, originally put down as a substitute, had a relatively fine tournament at the Olympics and marked his presence with a couple of outstanding goals, including one in the bronze medal play-off against the Netherlands.

The teams: (in alphabetical order):

Men: Pol Amat (Spain), Sebastian Biederlack (Germany), Rehan Butt (Pakistan), Jamie Dwyer (Australia), Santi Freixa (Spain), Bevan George (Australia), Rodrigo Garza (Spain), Robert van der Horst (Netherlands), Alistair McGregor, goalkeeper (Great Britain), Barry Middleton (Great Britain), Teun de Nooijer (Netherlands), Eddie Ockenden (Australia), Jong Ho Seo (Korea), Eduard Tubau (Spain), Guus Vogels, goalkeeper (Netherlands), Tibor Weissenborn (Germany), Timo Wess (Germany), Matthias Witthaus (Germany), Maurits Hendriks, coach (Spain), Markus Weise, coach (Germany).

Women: Naomi van As (Netherlands), Luciana Aymar (Argentina), Tina Bachman (Germany), Minke Booij (Netherlands), Kaori Chiba (Japan), Baorong Fu (China), Alejandra Gulla (Argentina), Rachel Imison, goalkeeper (Australia), Natascha Keller (Germany), Seon Ok Lee (Korea), Yibo Ma (China), Maartje Paumen (Netherlands), Carla Rebecchi (Argentina), Fanny Rinne (Germany), Maria Jesus Rosa, goalkeeper (Spain), Janneke Schopman (Netherlands), Qingling Song (China), Melanie Wells (Australia), Mark Lammers coach (Netherlands), Chang Back Kim, coach (China).