India men's hockey probables join national Camp in Bengaluru
The squad assembled with the 11 members in the core probable group which remained at the camp.
The India men’s hockey team core group joined the national camp in SAI, Bengaluru on Tuesday following their successful run against Olympic champions Argentina in the FIH Hockey Pro League. The 22 members from the touring squad assembled with the 11 members that had stayed back in the camp after the required quarantine period.
The Manpreet Singh-led side displayed resilience on the field to beat Argentina 3-2 in shoot-out in the opening match and then blanked them with a 3-0 result. It was a just the kind of result the men in blue were hoping for in their build up to the Tokyo Olympics.
The squad also participated in three practice matches as a part of their Tokyo 2020 preparation during the tour, in which they registered two wins, one draw and a loss.
India men's team chief coach Graham Reid believes the tour to Argentina was a crucial part of the groundwork ahead of the Games.
"These matches in Argentina were extremely important for us to access the level we are at with lesser than 100 days to go for the Tokyo Olympic Games. We also managed to get a few practice sessions in Buenos Aires and we are really grateful to the CAH (Confederación Argentina de Hockey) for their hospitality," Chief Coach Graham Reid said in a media release.
"We will continue with our training with specific focus on the areas we feel can improve basis our performance in Argentina," Reid said.
The 33-member core probable group includes: P.R. Sreejesh, Krishan B. Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Gurinder Singh.
Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Jaskaran Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shilanand Lakra joined Kothajit Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh and Gurjant Singh who remained in SAI, Bengaluru