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The Indian squad for the national camp ahead of South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship has been announced with most of the seniors missing.
The biennial international men's tournament is back, as the South Asian countries gear to go up against each other with the motive of being crowned champions. The 2018 edition of the SAFF Championship will take place in Bangladesh and will run from September 4 to September 15, 2018.
Seven South Asian teams will take part in the tournament - India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Two groups of three and four, respectively, have been decided with India being drawn in the same group as Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Top two teams from each group will progress to the Semifinal before two teams contest the final on September 15.
The last edition of the SAFF Championship took place in 2015, with India being crowned as the champions. Afghanistan, who finished as runners-up, are not in the competition this time around.
In a bid to prepare for the SAFF Championship, India has named a thirty-four-man squad which will take part in the national camp before leaving for Bangladesh. There are many notable absentees as India has opted for a young squad.
The Blue Tigers will once again hope to be crowned as the champions. However, as always, nothing is definite in football.
Here is the full 34-man squad selected for the national camp, ahead of the 2018 SAFF Championship:
GOALKEEPERS: Vishal Kaith, Kabir Thaufiq, Kamaljit Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill.
DEFENDERS: Nishu Kumar, Umesh Perambra, Davinder Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sarthak Golui, Lalruatthara, Subhasish Bose, Jerry Lalrinzuala.
MIDFIELDERS: Vinit Rai, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Arjun Jayaraj, Nikhil Poojari, Isaac Vanmalsawma, Nandha Kumar, Udanta Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Ashique Kuruniyan, Vignesh D, Rahim Ali.
FORWARDS: Sumeet Passi, Daniel Lahlimpuia, Hitesh Sharma, Alen Deory, Manvir Singh, Kivi Zhimomi, Rahul KP.
