Hockey India selects 25 players for national camp to be held in Bhubaneswar
Hockey India has named a 25-player core group for the national camp which is scheduled to begin on September 16 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The players will report to the chief coach of the national team Harendra Singh for the training camp which will conclude on October 14.
Ahead of the ten-day Asian Champions Trophy which will begin on October 18 in Muscat, Oman, the Indian team will look forward to honing their skills after their recent debacle at the Asian Games in Indonesia. The Indian team ended their campaign with a Bronze Medal after beating Pakistan, but their loss to Malaysia in the semis was not up to the level. The squad will be looking at overcoming the setback and regroup with fresh perspective ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy and the upcoming World Cup.
"The Bronze Medal was a consolation and there is no excuse for not making it to the Final of the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang. There is no point looking back at the loss but now it's critical for us to look ahead with a fresh, positive approach," expressed Chief Coach Harendra Singh.
The 25-member Core Group includes three Goalkeepers in the form of PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera and Krishan Pathak while defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, and young Pardeep Singh have been called up for the National Camp.
Among mid-fielders, Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Sumit, Simranjit Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, and Vivek Sagar Prasad have been selected. The forwards who have made the cut are SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Sumit Kumar.
Meanwhile, ace striker Ramandeep Singh who underwent a knee surgery after sustaining an injury during the Champions Trophy along with Odisha defender Birendra Lakra will be under rehab.
"The idea of training in Bhubaneswar was to get acclimatized and we are also looking at playing on the newly-laid turf at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium which will host the Hockey Men's World Cup 2018. This is a very important phase in the lead up to the season Finale starting on November 28 and we intend to critically analyse our mistakes during the 18th Asian Games not just in our match against Malaysia but the other matches too," emphasized Harendra.
"Asian Champions Trophy will be one tournament where we will be executing the changes made during this National Camp which is why the tournament in Oman will be very important for us."
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