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Hockey
Hockey: India starts national camp ahead of FIH Men's Series Finals
As the Indian men's hockey team returned from their Australian Tour 2019, Hockey India on Sunday named a list of 32 players for the Senior Men's National Camp to begin at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar on 20 May to prepare for the upcoming FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 starting on 6th June 2019. Hockey India has retained all the 18 players of the Indian team that took part at the recently concluded Australian tour where the team won two matches against WA Thundersticks and Australia 'A' respectively, drew another match against Australia 'A' and lost the last two matches against the World No. 2 Australian Team. Speaking on the recently concluded Australian Tour, Chief Coach Graham Reid said that the tour was an opportunity for him to understand his team better. "It was good to get a view of where the team is at, compared to the World Number 2 side. They have been playing against world-class oppositions on a regular basis in the FIH Pro-League since the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, and this showed up in our two matches against them. For me, those matches provided a good bench-mark as to the level we have to be at as we move towards the Olympic qualification." "So, in terms of preparation for our upcoming FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 in Bhubaneswar, the tour was ideal. It provided me a great opportunity to view players at much closer quarters and under the pressure of a world-class team. Our first quarter in the first Match on Wednesday night showed me the level this team can play, we just need to do that on a more consistent basis. Not only across quarters but across games," said Reid. 
The 55-year-old Australian said that his team is focused on improving their attacking. He said, "Our ability to score goals under tight marking pressure will be critical if we are to close the gap with teams like Australia. Over the next few weeks in Bhubaneswar during our National Camp, we need to create as many opportunities as possible for our attackers to experience this tight pressure. It will also be critical for our defenders to keep improving this area from a defensive point of view. With speed and power becoming the dominant forces in World Hockey, we also need to keep improving in these areas. These are longer term goals but we still need to keep the focus on these areas." On his plans to tackle the hot conditions in Bhubaneswar during the upcoming National Camp, Reid said, "This first week back will be a lighter week for the whole group as the non-traveling group has also been training hard over the last two weeks in Bengaluru and will need to refresh as well. It will give us a chance to work on skills that we have identified during the Australian Tour. Bhubaneswar is very hot this time of the year so we will be training early morning and later at night to avoid the heat." Apart from the 32 core probables, four players namely Dipsan Tirkey, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Ramandeep Singh are undergoing their rehabilitation process at SAI, Bengaluru.
The 55-year-old Australian said that his team is focused on improving their attacking. He said, "Our ability to score goals under tight marking pressure will be critical if we are to close the gap with teams like Australia. Over the next few weeks in Bhubaneswar during our National Camp, we need to create as many opportunities as possible for our attackers to experience this tight pressure. It will also be critical for our defenders to keep improving this area from a defensive point of view. With speed and power becoming the dominant forces in World Hockey, we also need to keep improving in these areas. These are longer term goals but we still need to keep the focus on these areas." On his plans to tackle the hot conditions in Bhubaneswar during the upcoming National Camp, Reid said, "This first week back will be a lighter week for the whole group as the non-traveling group has also been training hard over the last two weeks in Bengaluru and will need to refresh as well. It will give us a chance to work on skills that we have identified during the Australian Tour. Bhubaneswar is very hot this time of the year so we will be training early morning and later at night to avoid the heat." Apart from the 32 core probables, four players namely Dipsan Tirkey, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Ramandeep Singh are undergoing their rehabilitation process at SAI, Bengaluru. List of Campers
Goalkeepers: 1. PR Sreejesh 2. Suraj Karkera 3. Krishan Bahadur Pathak Defenders: 4. Harmanpreet Singh 5. Birendra Lakra 6. Surender Kumar 7. Amit Rohidas 8. Varun Kumar 9. Rupinder Pal Singh 10. Gurinder Singh 11. Kothajit Singh Khadangbam 12. Nilam Sanjeep Xess 13. Jarmanpreet Singh Midfielders: 14. Manpreet Singh 15. Sumit 16. Nilakanta Sharma 17. Jaskaran Singh 18. Hardik Singh 19. Vivek Sagar Prasad 20. Ashis Kumar Topno 21. Sayyad Niyaz Rahim 22. Rajkumar Pal Forwards: 23. Mandeep Singh 24. Akashdeep Singh 25. Shilanand Lakra 26. Gursahibjit Singh 27. Shamsher Singh 28. Armaan Qureshi 29. Sumit Kumar 30. Simranjeet Singh 31. SV Sunil 32. Gurjant SinghNext Story
