Bengaluru, June 20 (IANS): Hockey India on Thursday announced the 27-member core probable group for the senior men’s national coaching camp, scheduled to commence on June 21 and last until July 8 at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru.

The camp is crucial as the Indian team will look to polish their preparations ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Indian men’s team is placed in Pool B along with Belgium, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. They will start their Olympic campaign against New Zealand on July 27.

The team returns to camp after a successful outing in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24, where they are currently placed fourth after earning 24 points from 16 matches.

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 and Amir Ali.

The midfielders called up to the camp include Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Mohammed Raheel Mouseen. The list of forwards includes Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Boby Singh Dhami and Araijeet Singh Hundal.

Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Craig Fulton spoke about the importance of the camp. He said, “We are looking to start an important block of training in this camp, and we need to make sure that we are in the best form ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. The players have learned a lot from their matches in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24. It has helped us in realising where we need to improve. We have a lot of time to work on those areas. We have a strong mix of players who are capable of winning anything.”