Argentina tour gave us chance to access our level ahead of Olympics: Indian hockey team coach Graham Reid

BENGALURU: The Indian men's hockey team chief coach Graham Reid on Tuesday said the recent tour to Argentina has been extremely beneficial as it provided him an opportunity to access the level of his side with three months remaining for the Tokyo Olympics.

India beat Argentina in both their FIH Pro League fixtures and also registered victories in two out of the four practice matches against the reigning Olympic champions.

"These matches in Argentina were extremely important for us to access the level we are at with lesser than 100 days to go for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

"We also managed to get a few practice sessions in Buenos Aires and we are really grateful to the CAH (Confederación Argentina de Hockey) for their hospitality," said Reid after the hockey core group returned to the national camp here on Tuesday.

The postponed Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to begin on July 23.

After completing their mandatory quarantine, the 22-member squad will join the remaining 11 members of the core probable group who remained in SAI, Bengaluru while the Indian team toured Argentina.

"After all the necessary protocols after our arrival, we will continue with our training with specific focus on the areas we feel can improve basis our performance in Argentina," Reid added.

The 33-member core probable group: PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Jaskaran Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Kothajit Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh and Gurjant Singh.