New Delhi, April 21 (IANS): Hockey India on Sunday announced the 28-member core probable group for the senior men’s national coaching camp, scheduled from April 21 to May 31 at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru.

The camp is important as India will look to fine-tune their preparations ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The team returns to camp after playing a five-match Test series in Australia. After this camp, the team will travel to Belgium and London for their next two legs of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24, where they will be up against Argentina, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain.

The core group of the National Coaching Camp includes goalkeepers Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera and defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Sumit, and Amir Ali.

The midfielders called up to the camp include Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh.

While the list of forwards includes Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mohammed Raheel Mouseen, Boby Singh Dhami, and Araijeet Singh Hundal.

Talking about the importance of the upcoming camp, Indian Men’s Hockey Team Chief Coach Craig Fulton said, "We are looking to begin an important block of training in this camp, and we need to make sure that we are in the best shape possible ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. We have an exciting group of experienced players along with some young players.

"The tour to Australia has helped us in realising where we need to work on and I always believe that we can work on our shortcomings and look to set things straight well before the final leg of the Pro League and the Paris 2024 Olympics."