Indian men's hockey team begins training today

As many as 33 core probables named by Hockey India reported for the senior men’s national camp today at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The players reported to Chief Coach Graham Reid for a three-week training and conditioning camp which will conclude on December 8.

The Indian men's hockey team recently secured their place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by defeating Russia 11-3 on aggregate at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha. The team will now look to regroup and evaluate their performances at the recently held Qualifiers.

Also read: Hockey India rolls out a 33-member probables list for men’s national coaching camp

With the focus now shifting to the FIH Pro League 2020 that kickstarts in January 2020, the core probables will undergo three weeks of routine fitness training to maintain their levels and stay in the rhythm, which will then be followed by another training camp scheduled to begin on December 29.

Chief Coach Graham Reid expressed:

Given there is no tournament immediately following this 3-week camp in Bhubaneswar, it is a perfect opportunity for us to change focus from team tactics to more about individual improvement. We will do this through detailed analysis and review from our performances last season including the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha. This will provide a good road-map for us in our quest to squeeze as much improvement as we can in the next nine months.

The core probables list includes goalkeepers P R Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, and 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 and Dispan Tirkey have been called up. Midfielders Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ashis Kumar Topno, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim and Raj Kumar Pal have been included in the list. Forwards Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Gursahibjit Singh, Shamsher Singh, Simranjeet Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh, Ramandeep Singh, and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay have also been called up for the camp.