In a bid to rectify the team’s flaws ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hockey India announced a list of 28-member probable core group for the men’s national coaching camp that has got underway on Sunday. The camp will go on till 13 May at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru. India’s players will be undergoing the camp in the aftermath of a 0-5 defeat to Australia in a five-match Test series recently Down Under.
The Indian team, post the camp, will then fly to Belgium and London for the upcoming two legs of the FIH Pro League. They will take on Argentina, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain as they aim for an improved performance ahead of the Olympics.
“We are looking to begin an important block of training in this camp, and we need to make sure that we are in the best shape possible ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. We have an exciting group of experienced players along with some young players,” chief coach Craig Fulton said in a HI release.
“The tour to Australia has helped us in realising where we need to work on and I always believe that we can work on our shortcomings and look to set things straight well before the final leg of the Pro League and the Paris 2024 Olympics.”
The core group of the national coaching camp includes goalkeepers Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera and defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Sumit, and Amir Ali.
The midfielders called up to the camp include Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh.
While the list of forwards comprises Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mohammed Raheel Mouseen, Boby Singh Dhami, and Araijeet Singh Hundal.
With PTI inputs