Bengaluru, February 15: The Indian women's team will begin a two-week training camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru from Friday (February 16).
The camp comes in the light of Indian eves' preparation for major events coming up including the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held in Australia in April, 5th Asian Champions Trophy in South Korea in May, the World Cup to be held in England in July and the Asian Games in Indonesia in August.
The Hockey India announced a 34-member probables list for the SAI camp.
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Head coach Harendra Singh, who will be in charge of the camp, spoke on the need for speed and agility ahead of a busy calendar year for the women.
"Since 2018 is extremely important with mega events in the pipeline it's necessary for the team to stay fit and injury-free but at the same time they also need to be fast and agile. Keeping this in mind we'll have a series of sessions to guide players and educate them on significance of fitness and achieving our target in major competitions," said Harendra.
After ending the year 2017 on a high, winning the Women's Asia Cup in Japan, the Indian eves will begin their campaign this year with a tour to South Korea where they will be based from March 3 to 12.
During the Korea tour, India will play five matches against the hosts at the Jinchun National Athletic Centre.
Then they will then head to Gold Coast in Australia for the CWG in April before returning to Korea in May for the Asian Champions Trophy title defence.
"The Korean tour is important ahead of the CWG as we want to implement a few combinations and get some good match practice before we leave for Australia. With the Asian Champions Trophy being held in Korea, it's good to get used to the playing conditions in that country and also matches against the home team ahead of a big competition is always good," added Harendra.
(Source: Hockey India)
The probables list
Goalkeepers
1. Savita
2. Rajani Etimarpu
3. Swati
Defenders
4. Deep Grace Ekka
5. P Sushila Chanu
6. Sunita Lakra
7. Gurjit Kaur
8. Hnialum Lal Ruat Feli
9. Navdeep Kaur
10. Rashmita Minz
11. Neelu Dadiya
Midfielders
12. Namita Toppo
13. Nikki Pradhan
14. Deepika
15. Karishma Yadav
16. Renuka Yadav
17. Navjot Kaur
18. Monika
19. Lilima Minz
20. Neha Goyal
21. Udita
22. M Lily Chanu
23. Nilanjali Rai
24. Suman Devi Thoudam
Forwards
25. Rani
26. Vandana Katariya
27. Preeti Dubey
28. Reena Khokhar
29. Anupa Barla
30. Sonika
31. Lalremsiami
32. Poonam Rani
33. Navneet Kaur
34. Navpreet Kaur