HI announces 33 core probables for Senior men’s national camp
NEW DELHI: Hockey India (HI) on Friday announced a 33-member core probables list for the national camp, which will commence at the Sports Authority of India in Bengaluru from March 14.
The national camp under chief coach Roelant Oltmans includes as many as 11 players from the last year's gold medal junior World Cup winning squad.
The junior team players were also incredible at the recently-concluded Hockey India League (HIL), where they held their nerves against some of the world's best hockey stars.
While Mandeep Singh, Harjeet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Vikas Dahiya have been part of the senior men's camp earlier, defenders Dipsan Tirkey and Gurinder Singh, midfielders Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet and Simranjeet Singh, forward Gurjant Singh are the latest inclusions in the core group, which will be put through the grind ahead of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in April, followed by the Men's Hockey World League Semi-final London 2017 in June.
20-year-old goalkeeper Suraj Karkera from Mumbai has also received a call-up for the senior men's camp. He was a part of the junior India men's team in the four-nation International Junior hockey tournament in Valencia last year.
Amit Rohidas, who formed an integral part of the 2017 HIL winners Kalinga Lancers defence structure, too finds a place in the core probables list.
The squad contains established stars likes PR Sreejesh, Sardar Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, SV Sunil, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, SK Uthappa, Chinglensana Singh, Talwinder Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Surender Kumar, Manpreet Singh among others.
"It was a busy start to the new year with the HIL, where I feel some of the players did extremely well under pressure situations. Like I had mentioned earlier, the selection process for the core probables was based on the players' performances in the year 2016 as well as the 2017 HIL. This is an important year for Indian hockey with the Men's Hockey World League Semi-final London 2017 and the World League Final in December," said Oltmans. CORE PROBABLES: Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, PR Sreejesh, Vikas Dahiya, Suraj Karkera.
Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey, Pardeep Mor, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas.
Midfielders: Chinglensana Singh, SK Uthappa, Sumit, Satbir Singh, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet, Simranjeet Singh.
Forwards: Ramandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Gurjant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay. NEW DELHI: India's new U-17 football World Cup coach Luis Norton de Matos stressed on the fact that India needs to play better teams in order to prepare well for the youth showpiece set to start in October.
Norton said the first six weeks of him being in charge are really important.
"As part of the preparation, we need to play stronger teams. There is no point winning against weaker teams and winning comfortably. The World Cup will be a different challenge. There is a huge difference in the standards between the National Teams and people in India understand that," Norton, who was appointed after German coach Nicolai Adam was sacked,said.