Dhanraj Pillay, who led India [ Images ] to its maiden Asia Cup title in Malaysia last week, was the notable omission as the Indian Hockey Federation on Friday named 24 probables for the inaugural Afro-Asian Games, starting in Hyderabad on October 24.

Pillay will, however, join the camp along with six more players who were dropped, for the India-Netherlands Test series in December and the January 8-18 Sultan Azlan Shah tournament, IHF secretary general K Jyothikumaran said in a statement.

Though an official reason was not given for Dhanraj's omission, a source in the IHF said the striker is being 'rested' in view of other major engagements ahead.

Others who were in the Asia Cup squad but omitted from the Afro-Asian Games list include Baljit Singh Dhillon, Baljit Singh Saini, Dinesh Nayak, Didar Singh, Tejbir Singh and goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh.

The 24 probables for the Afro-Asian Games will attend a coaching camp, starting in Delhi [ Images ] on October 6. Another camp would be held after the Games in preparation for the Dutch series and the Azlan Shah tournament.

Probables:

Devesh Chauhan,
Adrian D' Souza,
Raj Rajan,
Dilip Tirkey,
Sandeep Singh,
Harpal Singh,
Len Aiyappa,
Bimal Lakra,
Vikram Pillay,
V S Vinay,
Prabodh Tirkey,
Viren Rasquinha,
Vivek Gupta,
Ignace Tirkey,
Kanwalpreet Singh,
Gagan Ajit Singh,
Deepak Thakur,
Prabhjot Singh,
Sandeep Michael,
Tushar Khandekar,
Adam Sinclair,
Sardar Singh,
Hari Prasad
Birendra Lakra.

Officials:

Rajinder Singh (chief coach),
Baldev Singh (coach),
A B Subbaiah (goalkeeping coach)
Sampath Kumar (trainer).