34 players for hockey national camp

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 16

Hockey India on Saturday named 34 players for the senior men’s national camp, beginning February 18 at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru, to prepare for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia. The tournament is scheduled to begin on March 23.

Hockey India has retained all 18 players of the Indian team that took part in the World Cup in December last year, for the month-long camp that concludes on March 18.

The list also features Sultan of Johor Cup silver-medal winning India colts Shilanand Lakra, Suman Beck, Mandeep Mor, Yashdeep Siwach, Vishal Antil and Gursahabjit Singh who had figured in the 34-member camp for the World Cup.

The youngsters have been credited for showing continued improvement and potential to match the standards at the senior level.

“The team for the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be selected from this core group of 34 players after a selection trial is held in Bengaluru in the last week of February. I am happy to note that the junior players who have recently been inducted into the senior camp have shown significant improvement and that the depth in the group is strong,” said David John, High Performance Director, Hockey India.

Squad 

Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Krishan Bahadur Pathak  

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Pardeep Singh, Suman Beck, Mandeep Mor, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh 

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Sumit, Simranjit Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Yashdeep Siwach, Vishal Antil 

Forwards: Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Sumit Kumar, Gursahabjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra, SV Sunil