Mumbai defender Cheops D'Costa and Air-India forward Gagan Ajit Singh are the new two faces announced by the IHF president KPS Gill here on Wednesday.

In a team, in which the nucleus of the forward-line is the same as that of the World Cup squad, Sabu Varkey, Mukesh Kumar and Dhanraj Pillay continue to get the selectors' favour. The last mentioned has been retained as the skipper of the side.

Also announcing the team which will play the four-nation Panasonic Cup at Hamburg (Germany) later this month, Gill said that, ``the players were basically tested regarding their fitness.''

Allaying all doubts about the communication gap between the selectors and the coach, Gill said, that MK Kaushik (chief coach) had been consultedbefore finalising the team.

``In fact, Sandeep Somesh (voted as the best midfielder at the MCC tourney) has not been included in the team, because he did not fit into the coach's scheme of things.

Gill also said that the coaching team of Kaushik and his assistants Ramesh Parameswaran and Charles Cornelius will not be changed till the Bangkok Asian Games in December. He also announced the IHF's decision to include Sebastian of SAI, Bangalore as the physio of the team, while saying that the decision on team doctor has been deferred.

Gill also confirmed that no player in the team was `unfit'.

Regarding the 5-a-side tournament, which the IHF had planned before the Commonwealth Games, Gill said that ``many felt that the time duration to run such a tournament was too short. Therefore we decided to have it before the Asian Games.''

THE TEAMS

For Commonwealth Games

Goalkeepers: AB Subbaiah (IA), Jude Menezes (Mumbai); Halfs and Backs: Dilip Kumar Tirkey (IA), Lazarus Barla (IA), CheopsD'Costa (Mumbai), Baljit Singh Saini (PSB), Mohammed Riaz (IA), Ramandeep Singh (Pjb), Thirumalvalavan (TN); Forwards: Mukesh Kumar (IA), Sabu Varkey (Mumbai), Dhanraj Pillay (Mumbai-Captain), Sanjeev Kumar (PSB), Gagan Ajit Singh (A-I), L Prabhakar (TN), Baljit Singh Dhillon (Pjb) Stand Byes: Ambuj Srivastav (Rlys), Rajinder Singh (Excise), Shanmugam (Kar), Cyprian Aind (Ser). Coaches: MK Kaushik, Ramesh Parameswaran, Charles Cornelius. Physio: Sebastian. Manager and Doctor: Yet to be named.

For Hamburg tournament

Goalkeepers: Jagadish Ponnappa (IA), BC Poonacha (Excise); Halfs and Backs: Cornelius D'Costa (A-I), Dinesh Naik (TN), Anurag Raghuvanshi (A-I Academy), Rahul Singh (Excise), Navsher Singh (Rlys), Radhakrishnan (TN), Jagmohan Singh (Rlys), Bimal Lakra (Centre of Excellence). Forwards: Virinder Singh (IA), Kamal Horo (Ser), Ajinder Pal Singh (Rlys), Daljit Singh Dhillon (Pjb), YS Rawat (IA). Coach: CR Kumar.