Indian men hockey team's HWL semi preparations starts tomorrow

NEW DELHI:Indian men team's preparation for the upcoming FIH Hockey World League Semi-final in Antwerp starts tomorrow with 48 core probables at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

The preparatory camp will continue till June 9 ahead of the Hockey World League Semi-final in Antwerp, Belgium from June 20 June till July 5.

Initially the camp will start with 48 players which will be cut down to 33 after a week's training.

The 48 core probables also include players who have shown promise in the recently-concluded National Championship like young goalkeeper Akash Chikte, who was declared one of the upcoming players of the tournament. Besides goalkeeper Arpit Chaudhary and Abhinav Pandey also made it to the list of core probables.

Commenting on the new faces who will be part of the camp, Hockey India's High Performance Director, Roelant Oltmans said: "It is nice to see new boys getting a chance to prove their worth and potential. Each new player identified on the probables list has been picked up on the basis of their performance during the Hockey India National Championships.

"Their play was key for us to select them for the camp and give them a chance to further refine their skills and experience."

List of 48 Senior Men Core Probales: Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh, Harjot Singh, Arpit Chaudhary, Akash Chikte, Jaswant Singh, Abhinav Pandey, Sushant Tirkey

Defenders: Gurbaj Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, V R Raghunath, Birendra Lakra, Kothjit Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Gurmail Singh, Sunil Yadav, Pradeep Mor, Amit Rohidas, Surinder Kumar

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, S K Uthappa, Dharamvir Singh, Sardar Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Satbir Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Vikas Sharma, Imran Khan, M B Aiyappa

Forwards: Nikkin Thimmaiah, S V Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Affan Yousuf, Yuvraj Walmiki, P R Ayiapa, Harsahib Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Vineet Kamble, Malak Singh, Mandeep Antil, Amir Khan, Prabhdeep Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Devinder Sunil Walmiki, Talwinder Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah.