Bangalore: Three players from Orissa, all defenders, namely Dipsan Tirkey, Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas have found a place in the 35-member hockey core group announced by Hockey India (HI) here Friday. The squad also have 13 players from last year’s Junior World Cup winning team. They will all undergo a 40-day training camp here beginning August 26 for various upcoming international tournaments.
With just about 45 days to go for the Hero Asia Cup in Dhaka, the men’s hockey team will be back to the grind at the SAI campus here.
Junior World Cup winning team’s goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya and Suraj Karkera, defenders Dipsan, Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh and Varun Kumar, midfielders Harjeet Singh, Manpreet (Jr), Nilakanta Sharma and Sumit, and forwards Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Armaan Qureshi are the juniors who will be part of the national camp.
The Indian team, in their previous matches, had defeated World No.4, the Netherlands in back-to-back matches, followed by a win against Austria. However, they lost both their games to Belgium. During the Europe tour, six juniors made their debut with Varun, Gurjant and Armaan scoring their first goals for the senior squad.
While there is a strong presence of youngsters, the likes of experienced Sardar Singh, SV Sunil, Kothajit Singh, Chinglensana Singh, SK Uthappa, Ramandeep Singh and Akashdeep Singh among others will add to the fervour at the camp.
“With newcomers putting up a good performance in the Europe Tour, it’s an advantage for us to have a strong and bigger pool of players who will be available for selections for the Asia Cup 2017,” said 25-year-old Manpreet Singh, who led India to three successive wins in Europe.
Manpreet said that the 40-day camp would be a huge grilling experience, where players will have to compete against each other for a spot in the final 18.
“There is no doubt that we need to finish the Asia Cup 2017 as winners. This is an important camp where we need to set our game right and ensure there are no weak points before leaving for the tournament,” asserted Manpreet. “Each one of us, regardless of being a senior or junior, will have to earn his place in the team,” he added.
Core group: (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, Varun Kumar; (Midfielders): Chinglensana Singh, SK Uthappa, Sumit, Satbir Singh, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet (Jr), Simranjeet Singh; (Forwards): Ramandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Gurjant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Armaan Qureshi.
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