Hockey India names 25 women probables for national camp

The training and conditioning camp, which is slated to begin from Sunday at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru Campus, will be focused around fitness, ball-handling, structure and strategies, along with working on key areas which were identified from their recent tour of New Zealand.

The players will report to chief coach Sjoerd Marijne for the 27-day training and conditioning camp. "With the knowledge of the previous tour of New Zealand, we have identified some areas where we need to improve, and we will have the chance to fine-tune on these areas," he said.

"It is an important phase in our preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, and so the upcoming camp will be focused on the fitness because this is the moment where we can build, and have extra load in our training sessions."

With their eyes set on the big tournaments in 2020, the Indian team began the new year with a tour of New Zealand where they were involved in four matches against the World No. 7 side, along with one match against Great Britain.

The core probables group includes goalkeepers Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Bichu Devi Kharibam, defenders Deep Grace Ekka, Reena Khokhar, Salima Tete, Manpreet Kaur, Gurjit Kaur, and Nisha. Among midfielders, Nikki Pradhan, Monika, Neha Goyal, Lilima Minz, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Sonika and Namita Toppo have received a call-up.

Forwards Rani, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Navjot Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Jyoti, Sharmila Devi and Udita have made the national camp.