Speaking on the National camp, chief coach Graham Reid said that his team was focused on improving their attacking. “Our ability to score goals under tight marking pressure will be critical if we are to close the gap with teams like Australia. Over the next few weeks in Bhubaneswar, we need to create as many opportunities as possible for our attackers to experience this tight pressure.

It will also be critical for our defenders to keep improving this area from a defensive point of view. With speed and power becoming the dominant forces in World Hockey, we also need to keep improving in these areas. These are longer term goals but we still need to keep the focus on these areas,” added the 55-year-old Australian.

On his plans to tackle the hot conditions in Bhubaneswar during the upcoming National Camp, Reid said, “This first week back will be a lighter week for the whole group as the non-traveling group has also been training hard over the last two weeks in Bengaluru and will need to refresh as well. It will give us a chance to work on skills that we have identified during the Australian Tour. Bhubaneswar is very hot this time of the year so we will be training early morning and later at night to avoid the heat.”

Apart from the 32 Core Probables, four players, namely Dipsan Tirkey, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Ramandeep Singh are undergoing their rehabilitation process at SAI, Bengaluru.

LIST OF CAMPERS:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ashis Kumar Topno, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim, Rajkumar Pal
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Gursahibjit Singh, Shamsher Singh, Armaan Qureshi, Sumit Kumar, Simranjeet Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh
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TOP: Odisha star Birendra Lakra in Bhubaneswar on his return home from Australian Tour on on 19 May 2019.
RIGHT: Odisha players (L to R) Ashis Topno, Amit Rohidas, Shilanand Lakra and Nilam Sanjeep Xess in Bhubaneswar on 19 May 2019.