Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 23 (ANI): Hockey India's endeavour to create more depth in the talent pool by giving right international exposure for the fringe players to showcase their potential with the India 'A' side has renewed hope for players like Karthi Selvam, who last played for the Senior India team at the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai in 2023.

Karthi's return to the core probable group for the national camp and subsequent call-up for the India 'A' side was stoked by his performance in the revamped Hockey India League earlier this year, where he impressed for the Tamil Nadu Dragons.

The recent tour to Europe was nothing but a learning experience for Karthi. and said, as quoted from a press release by Hockey India, 'The recent India 'A' tour to Europe has instilled fresh hope for India's comeback for me. 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.'

The India 'A' side under Coach and former India striker Shivendra Singh began the tour with back-to-back wins against Ireland (6-1 and 6-0), followed by a win and a loss against France (3-2 and 2-0). While their match against England was close (2-3), India 'A' lost 1-3 to Belgium, and suffered 0-3 and 2-8 losses against 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.

Speaking about his own game, Karthi said, '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,' stated an optimistic Karthi.

The India 'A' side has returned to their base in SAI, Bengaluru, where they will join the Senior India players for the remainder of the national camp. The team will also be part of the selection process for the upcoming Australia Tour and Asia Cup in Bihar next month.

'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. (ANI)