Bengaluru, July 23: Tamil Nadu forward Karthi Selvam is hopeful of earning a recall to the Senior India men’s hockey squad after gaining valuable experience on the recent India ‘A’ tour of Europe, which he believes has boosted his chances of donning national colours again.
Karthi, who last represented the senior India side at the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai in 2023, said the exposure and the specific inputs he received from the coaching staff have given him fresh belief to push for a place in the core group.
“The recent India ‘A’ tour to Europe has instilled fresh hope for India comeback for me,” Karthi stated in a Hockey India release.
“It’s going to be two years since I last wore the India colours and there’ve been a lot of learnings for me in this tour which had a combination of young players and those who have played for India,” he added.
The India ‘A’ squad is now back at the SAI centre in Bengaluru, where they will train alongside the senior core group and be in contention for selection for the upcoming Australia tour and the Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar next month.
Karthi’s return to the probables was prompted by a strong showing for Tamil Nadu Dragons in the revamped Hockey India League earlier this year, which impressed the selectors enough to include him in the national camp and the development squad under coach and former India striker Shivendra Singh.
The India ‘A’ side began the tour brightly with back-to-back wins over Ireland (6-1 and 6-0) and a win and a loss against France (3-2 and 0-2).
They ran England close in a narrow 2-3 defeat, before going down 1-3 to Belgium and 0-3 and 2-8 to the Netherlands.
“We started the tour very well and the match against England was also quite close. But we couldn’t finish the tour on a high with the Netherlands posing stiff competition. Overall, it was a top experience for us,” he said.
The young forward credited the coaching team for helping him refine his game, particularly on off-the-ball tactics.
“There have been some specific inputs that Craig (Fulton) has given me and also Cosma, our Analytical Coach, has provided valuable inputs for my game particularly on off-the-ball tactics. I’ve been implementing this in my game and look forward to breaking into the India side again,” Karthi said.
Karthi knows the challenge ahead remains stiff.
“There is still a lot of hard work to do. There is a fine difference in how the senior team performs and how we have fared as a development team. There are some gaps that we need to work on, and that will be our focus in this camp,” he concluded. (PTI)
