Harmanpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh led a group of 27 members for the pre-Olympic preparation camp

Hockey India on Thursday announced the likely 27-member core group for the senior national coaching camp, which will begin from June 21 to July 8 at the SAI Center in Bengaluru.

The camp is crucial as the Indian team looks to enhance their preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Indian men’s team has been placed in Pool B along with Belgium, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. They start their Olympic campaign against New Zealand on July 27.

The team returns to camp after a successful outing in the 2023/24 FIH Hockey Pro League where they currently sit in fourth place after gaining 24 points from 16 matches.

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 and Amir Ali.

The midfielders called up for the camp include Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Mohammed Raheel Mouseen.

The list of attackers includes Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Boby Singh Dhami and Araijeet Singh Hundal.

Indian senior men’s team coach Craig Fulton spoke about the importance of the camp and said, “We want to start an important block of training in this camp and we need to ensure that we are in the best shape ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games competition.”

“The players learned a lot from their matches in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24. It helped us realize where we need to improve. We have a lot of time to work on those areas. We have a strong mix of players who can win everything.”

Indian Men’s Hockey Team Core Group with 27 members:

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Amir Ali

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mohammed Raheel Mouseen

Forward: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Boby Singh Dhami, Araijeet Singh Hundal