Hockey India names senior men's team core group ahead of ACT

Hockey India on Sunday named a 39-member senior men's core group for the national camp to be held from June 26 to July 19 at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru.

After the camp, the team will travel to Terrassa, Spain, where it will compete against England, the Netherlands and the home side in the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation International Tournament from July 25 to 30.

The four-nation tournament will be followed by the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai from August 3, in which India will face Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, and China for the title.

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The core group includes goalkeepers Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Pawan Malik and Prashant Kumar Chauhan, and defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh, Jugraj Singh, Mandeep Mor, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Sanjay, Yashdeep Siwach, Dipsan Tirkey and Manjeet.

The midfielders called up for the camp include Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Sumit, Akashdeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mohd. Raheel Mouseen and Maninder Singh.

S Karthi, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Pawan Rajbhar were named among forwards.

"We performed well in the FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022/2023 matches in Belgium and the Netherlands, and now we hope to maintain some consistency, especially with important tournaments set to take place later this year," India's chief coach Craig Fulton said.

"The camp will be an opportunity for us to improve ourselves in certain areas and to work together as a unit once again. With the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 set to take place in August, followed by the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China, it is an important camp for us to begin our preparations for the upcoming months and to display the kind of hockey we wish to play."

India's 39-member core probable group:

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Pawan Malik, Prashant Kumar Chauhan.

Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh, Jugraj Singh, Mandeep Mor, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Sanjay, Yashdeep Siwach, Dipsan Tirkey, Manjeet.

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Sumit, Akashdeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mohd Raheel Mouseen, Maninder Singh.

Forwards: S Karthi, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Pawan Rajbhar.