Rejuvenated Indian men's hockey team to return to camp in Bangalore

Bengaluru, Sept 16 (ANI): After finishing eighth at the Rio Olympics, the Indian senior men's hockey team will return to the national camp starting from Sunday ahead of an all-important season. The three-week camp will set momentum for the 4th men's Asian Champions Trophy slated to begin in Malaysia next month where India go in as favourites. The camp will be four weeks and will focus on fitness, skill, tactics and also introspecting on the challenges that faced the team during the Rio Olympics. "This camp is crucial as we prepare for some major tournaments starting with the Asian Champions Trophy in Kuantan, Malaysia where we will meet arch rivals Pakistan among other top teams. There are some areas we would specifically like to focus on and experiment with different tactics in terms of creating field goals and also earning PCs," said chief coach Roelant Oltmans. "We will be touring Australia in November and hope to carry the good form Down Under. The next two years for Indian hockey is crucial with the upcoming Hockey World Cup in India in 2018. All the tournaments we would play in the lead up will only help prepare us for the big event,"he added. The camp will include 26 core probable players including skipper PR Sreejesh, Sardar Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Surender Kumar, Abhinav Kumar Pandey, Akash Chikte, Rupinder Pal Singh, Pardeep Mor, Jasjit Singh Kular, Birendra Lakra, Satbir Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Talwinder Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mohd. Amir Khan, Affan Yousuf, Manpreet Singh, VR Raghunath, SV Sunil, Devindar Walmiki, Nikkin Thimmaiah, SK Uthappa, Kothajit Singh and Ramandeep Singh. (ANI)