Bhubaneswar: August 31: Six Players from Odisha have been selected by Hockey India among 33 core probables for the senior men’s national camp scheduled to be held in Bengaluru between September 2 and September 22 ahead of the team’s departure for the Belgium tour.
The players will report to coach Graham Reid at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Bengaluru on Sunday to prepare for the upcoming Belgium tour later in September and the Olympics qualifiers in October/November.
Following the team’s recent victory in the Olympic Test Event final against New Zealand, 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 players 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,” Reid said.
The chief coach added that the tour of Belgium in September will be a great platform for the 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 teams in the world. We need to be prepared for that, which will provide a great platform for the Olympic qualifiers in October/November,” Reid said.
The probables:
Goalkeepers: P.R. Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ashis Kumar Topno, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim, Raj Kumar Pal
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Gursahibjit Singh, Shamsher Singh, Simranjeet Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (Input from IANS)
