Hockey team in Dhaka minus coach

India's chief hockey coach Cedric D' Souza has been hospitalised with a viral infection in his ear and has not travelled with a 16-member squad for the Bangladesh Prime Minister's Cup in Dhaka.

Indian Hockey Federation secretary K. Jothikumaran said on Thursday that D' Souza would join the team on Saturday, when the tournament is due to start.

"He is recovering, but feels giddy when he walks," he said.

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan head a nine-nation field for the 10-day tournament, which also features Scotland, Japan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Egypt, Ireland and China.

The Asian hockey powers have been placed in different preliminary groups but the two neighbours could face each other in the knockout stages.

They played a bilateral Test series in 1999 but last year's planned series was cancelled owing to political tensions between the two countries over the Kashmir dispute.

Both finished out of medals in the Sydney Olympics -- Pakistan taking fourth place and India a poor seventh.

The India squad:
Goalkeepers: Jude Menezes, Bharat Chetri.
Defenders: Dilip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla, Dinesh Nayak;
Half-backs: Baljit Singh Saini, Thirumalvalavan, Arjun Halappa, Radhakrishnan, Bipin Fernandez;
Forwards: Baljit Singh Dhillon, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Dhanraj Pillay, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, Inderjit Singh.