Hockey India names 34 players for national camp ahead of Azlan Shah Cup

New Delhi: Hockey India on Saturday named 34 players for the senior men's national camp, beginning February 18 at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bengaluru, to prepare for the season's first tournament -- Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia.

The tournament will start from March 23.

Hockey India has retained all 18 players in the Indian team that took part at the World Cup last December, for the month-long camp that concludes on March 18.

The list also features Sultan of Johor Cup silver-medal winning India Colts Shilanand Lakra, Suman Beck, Mandeep Mor, Yashdeep Siwach, Vishal Antil and Gursahabjit Singh who had figured in the 34-member camp for the World Cup.

The youngsters have been credited for showing continued improvement and potential to match the standards at the senior level.

"The team for the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be selected from this core group of 34 players after a selection trial is held in Bengaluru in the last week of February. I am happy to note that the junior players who have recently been inducted into the senior camp have shown significant improvement and that the depth in the group is strong," said David John, High Performance Director, Hockey India.

The full list is as follows: 

Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Pardeep Singh, Suman Beck, Mandeep Mor, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Sumit, Simranjit Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Yashdeep Siwach, Vishal Antil

Forwards: Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Sumit Kumar, Gursahabjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra, S V Sunil.