Hockey players to feature in 11-day camp

The Indian men's hockey team will round its preparations for the upcoming Asian Games with an 11-day camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru starting on Wednesday.

The camp will include seven standby players besides the 18-member selected squad.

After a hectic 21 days where the national campers played back-to-back matches against Bangladesh, South Korea and New Zealand as part of their preparations for the upcoming tournament, the players were given a much-needed break to recover and return fresh for the national camp which concludes on August 11.

"We will be starting high-intensity training after a gap of almost one week. The rest was much-needed after a hectic and busy schedule where the players played high-tempo matches against Bangladesh, South Korea and New Zealand," chief coach Harendra Singh said in a statement.

India, who are the defending champions, have been grouped in Pool A alongside South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong China and Indonesia.

"This break was essential because now the players will report with a fresh mind and fresh legs for the final preparatory camp before heading for the most important Asian Games where we want to seal the Olympic qualification by winning Gold," Hiarendra said.