Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 14 : The Indian men's hockey team left for Antwerp, Belgium in the early hours of Tuesday for the Europe leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 with captain Harmanpreet Singh emphasising the significance of the tournament in terms of preparation for Paris Olympics.
In the upcoming leg, the winner of this season will be determined. India, currently placed third in the points table, behind table toppers Netherlands and Australia, will take on hosts Belgium and Argentina in Antwerp between May 22 to May 26 followed by matches against Germany and Great Britain from June 1 to June 9 in London.
While India will be vying to finish the prestigious league with top honours, they will also be focused on eliminating any chinks in their armour ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris starting this July.
"The team is quite excited to get back on the road again for yet another challenging outing where we will take on the world's best teams in the FIH Hockey Pro League," expressed Captain Harmanpreet Singh ahead of the team's departure.
"We will be travelling on the back of a very intense training camp at SAI, Bengaluru over the past few weeks where we focused on our conditioning and played intra-squad matches regularly. The team is shaping well and the Pro League is an important event for us to iron out the flaws in our execution ahead of the Olympics," the captain said according to Hockey India release.
Harmanpreet further emphasized the importance of the matches in Antwerp and London. According to him, it will not only give insights into their own game and how they are faring as a unit but the matches will also provide them insights into the opponents' game.
"We have Belgium and Argentina in our pool at the Olympics along with Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. We play Belgium and Argentina both in Antwerp. We are also trying out the best combinations before the final squad is selected for the Olympics. Hence, the Pro League outing is crucial in our preparations for Paris as well as for players to make it to the 16-member squad for Paris," added Harmanpreet, who is among the top 3 highest goal scorers this season with six goals.
India will begin their European leg on May 22 with their opening match against Argentina, followed by back-to-back matches against Belgium on May 23 and May 25.
They will take on Argentina again on May 26 before moving on to the final leg in London where they play Germany on June 1 and 8 and take on hosts Great Britain on June 2 and 9.
"In the past few seasons of the Pro League, we have finished at third position. It will be great to finish on top this time and we are quite optimistic about it," Harmanpreet signed off.
Indian men's hockey team for FIH Hockey Pro League 2023-24:
Goalkeepers: Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay, Jugraj Singh, Vishnukant Singh
Midfielders: Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Hardik Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Mohd. Raheel Mouseen
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Boby Singh Dhami.
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