Five Odisha Players Among 34-Member Core Probables for Indian Men’s National Coaching Camp

New Delhi: Hockey India on Sunday named the 34 core probable players including five players from Odisha for the Indian Men’s National Coaching Camp to begin on 8 July 2019 in Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru Campus.

The Odisha players are Birendra Lakra, Amit Rohidas, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Shilanand Lakra and Ashis Kumar Topno.

The players will report to Chief Coach Graham Reid for the six-week Camp that concludes on 11 August 2019 following which the Indian team will travel to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Test Event to be played between India, Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand starting 17 August 2019.

Players called-up for National Coaching Camp include goalkeepers PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak and Suraj Karkera. Defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Nilam Sanjeep Xess and Jarmanpreet Singh have received a call-up for the camp while Midfielders Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ashis Kumar Topno, Yashdeep Siwach, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim, Raj Kumar Pal will report.
Forwards Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Gursahibjit Singh, Shamsher Singh, Armaan Qureshi, Sumit Kumar, Simranjeet Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh and Ramandeep Singh have been asked to report for the National Coaching Camp.

“We will review our previous performance at the FIH Men’s Series Final Bhubaneswar and discuss among ourselves the shortcomings and how we can collectively improve our performance in the lead up to the Olympic Qualification in November. The next three-four months will be crucial and everything we do will be aimed at raising the bar in all aspects of the game,” expressed Chief Coach Graham Reid.

He further expressed that he will be watching closely the progress of every player and no one must take their place in the team for granted. “The support staff and I will be closely monitoring the progress of every player during this National Camp so in that sense each session is going to be important and we would expect nothing but 100 per cent from every player. The current pool of players assures of healthy competition and I am looking forward to the next six weeks,” Reid added.

Core Probables List

GOALKEEPERS

1.    P R 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.  Yashdeep Siwach
22.  Sayyad Niyaz Rahim
23.  Raj Kumar Pal

FORWARDS

24.  Mandeep Singh
25.  Akashdeep Singh
26.  Shilanand Lakra
27.  Gursahibjit Singh
28.  Shamsher Singh
29.  Armaan Qureshi
30.  Sumit Kumar
31.  Simranjeet Singh
32.  SV Sunil
33.  Gurjant Singh
34.  Ramandeep Singh