Hockey India names 33 players for junior national camp

Hockey India on Sunday named 33 players for the Indian Junior men's national camp in Bengaluru.

The players will report to coach Jude Felix and will be provided training till December 23 during the camp at Sports Authority of India centre.

The names listed for the national camp also include the 18-member junior men's hockey squad that won the bronze at the recently-held Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.

The team had a promising tournament where they beat hosts Malaysia twice---first 2-1in the pool stage and 4-0 in the bronze-medal match.

They ended the campaign with a total of 35 goals.

Indian junior men's hockey coach Jude Felix said, "I see a lot of potential in this group of 33 players. This is a learning curve for them and we have identified the mistakes we made in the Sultan of Johor Cup and will focus on improving those areas during this camp."

He further emphasised that the team need to fast track their development if they wish to get a call-up for the senior core group in an all-important 2018, which will witness top international events such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Odisha hockey men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2017.

"The priority is to push their limits and many of them are fast learners. I am convinced with their talent and with good international match exposure they can be a winning team," Jude concluded.