Men's FIH Pro League 2023-24:Indian Team Gears Up for Paris Olympics With Young Talent

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The Indian Men's Hockey Team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, is getting ready to start playing in the Men's FIH Pro League 2023/24. Their first match is against Spain on February 10th at 7:30 PM IST.

The FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 (Men) will happen at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar from February 10th to 16th. Then it will move to the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela from February 19th to 25th.

Teams from Ireland, Netherlands, India, Spain, and Australia will play each other once in Bhubaneswar and once in Rourkela during this league. In the pre match press conference Indian men's hockey team head coach Craig Fulton spoke about the team's preparation.

"It is the home stretch before the Olympics and we are looking to get some consistent performances in. There are a few youngsters that are really exciting to watch and have been added to the squad. They will be given opportunities in these eight games so that we can confirm our Olympic squad," said Fulton.

India played some practice matches in South Africa before this tournament. They won 4-0 and tied 2-2 with France. Then they beat South Africa 3-0 but lost 1-5 to the Netherlands.

The 49-year-old Craig Fulton also spoke about the youngsters in the team "There's Vishnu (Vishnukant Singh), who's from the under-21 and Araijeet Singh Hundal as well from under-21. So there's three young talents there that are really, really exciting players. But Bobby (Singh Dhami) is here with us training as well, he's just not in the 24, but he's with us. And Suraj Karkera is the third goalkeeper as well from the 5s. So we have four goalkeepers. So for Suraj it's now an opportunity for him. We hope to try and get them through out of the eight games. That's what I'm trying to say. Trying to confirm our Olympic squad and do it well,"

India's first match is against Spain on February 10th, followed by a game against the top-ranked Netherlands on February 11th. They'll then play against Australia on February 15th, and their final match in Bhubaneswar will be against Ireland on February 16th.