On Saturday, Hockey India named the 33 core probable players who will report to coach Sjoerd Marijne for the camp that concludes on August 11. Following the training camp, the Women in Blue will travel to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Test Event to be played between India, Japan, Australia and China starting August 17.
Goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, forwards all have been asked to report for the national coaching camp.
"We will use this upcoming national coaching camp to evaluate our performances at the FIH Women's Series Finals Hiroshima 2019, and identify the areas for improvement.
"If you win, everything looks good, but it is important to keep a critical eye on your own performance to take the next step in the right direction. We have a few focus points where we want to improve, and the next four weeks will be utilized in making the improvements," expressed Marijne.
He added that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Test Event in August will be a good test for his team.
"Our aim is to use the matches against Australia, China, and hosts Japan to improve our own play and prepare well for the FIH Olympic Qualifiers 2019," he said.
"I am very curious to see how we will play against Australia, but before that, we will be focusing on stepping up our training in the next four weeks. To play these matches, we will need good fitness, and that is something which will be important for us in the camp as well. These matches give us the chance to test a few things which we can use in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers later this year."
Core probables list:
Goalkeepers: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Bichu Devi Kharibam
Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Reena Khokhar, Suman Devi Thoudam, Sunita Lakra, Salima Tete, Manpreet Kaur, Gurjit Kaur, Rashmita Minz, Mahima Choudhary, Nisha
Midfielders: Nikki Pradhan, Monika, Neha Goyal, Lilima Minz, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Chetna, Reet, Anuja Singh, Karishma Yadav, Sonika
Forwards: Rani, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Navjot Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Jyoti, Sharmila Devi, Amandeep Kaur, Priyanka Wankhede
( With inputs from IANS )