Ahead of the team’s departure for the Belgium tour, Hockey India on Saturday named 33 core probables for the national senior men’s coaching camp, scheduled to begin on September 2 and conclude on September 22.
Players will report to Chief Coach Graham Reid at Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru on Sunday to prepare for the upcoming Belgium Tour later in September and the Olympics Qualifiers in October/November.
The core probables list includes goalkeepers P R Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera and Krishan Bahadur Pathak while the likes of Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh and Dispan Tirkey have been called up as defenders.
Midfielders Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ashish Kumar Topno, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim and Raj Kumar Pal have been also included in the list.
Forwards Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjeet Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Shamsher Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay have been called-up for the camp.
After the team’s recent victory in the Olympic Test Event Final against New Zealand led by defender Harmanpreet Singh, the National Campers will be focused on remaining consistent in their performance.
“We have built some good momentum with this group over the last few months. The athletes will come to this camp keen and ready to improve on all aspects of team performance. Creating more quality opportunities, improving our defensive capabilities and working together to make each other better are the key aspects of this camp,” expressed Chief Coach Graham Reid.
The Chief Coach added that the tour of Belgium in September will be a great platform for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team to prepare for the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in October / November.
‘At the end of September we will travel to Europe to play and train with some of the best competition in the world. We need to be prepared for that, which will provide a great platform for the qualifiers in October / November,’ said Reid.
