Indian women's football team's Asiad camp from July 11

Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) The preparatory camp of the Indian women's football team for the Asian Games, to be held in Incheon from Sep 19 to Oct 4, will kick off here July 11.

The camp, which ends Aug 25, will be followed by an exposure tour to China from Aug 25 to Sep 10 from where the squad will proceed to Incheon in South Korea.

Head coach Tarun Roy has named a list of 35 probables for the camp, later to be cut down to 18. This is the first time that the Indian women's football team will be participating at the Asiad.

Roy, who was an All India Football Federation (AIFF) scout in the Women's National Championships held in Assam, highlighted the "quality" of the squad.

"I was very much impressed with the overall quality of the players. During the camp, I will be laying emphasis on improving the fitness levels of the squad. We need to fine-tune some aspects and can never afford to shift away from AIFF's philosophy. My aim is to bring down the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ranking of the Indian team to single digit," he said.

Currently, India are ranked 11 in Asia.

The following is the list of 35 probables:

Goalkeepers: Okram Roshni Devi (Manipur), Aditi Chauhan (Delhi), Tikina Samal (Odisha), Pushpa Tirkey (Jharkhand).

Defenders: Romi Devi, Radharani Devi, Umapati Devi (all from Manipur), Ashalata Devi (Delhi), Suprava Samal (Railways), Tuli Goon (West Bengal), Lako Bhutia (Sikkim), Nirmala (Haryana), Sumitra Marandi (Jharkhand).

Midfielders: Kamala Devi (Railways), Premi Devi, Bembem Devi, Mandakini Devi (all from Manipur), Supriya Routray, Manisa Panna, Montesori Chanu (all from Railways), Ammolya Kamal (Karnataka), Swati Rawat (Delhi), Neha Kumari (Bihar), Dorothi Oriya (Assam), Margaret Castanha (Goa), Manpreet Kaur (Railways), Indumathi Kathiresan (Pondicherry).

Forwards: Parmeshwori Devi, Rinaroy Devi, Dangmei Grace, Bala Devi (all from Manipur), Jyoti Burrett (Delhi), Pinky Magar, Sasmita Malik (both from Railways), Jabamani Soren (Odisha).

Standbyes: Durva Vahia (goalkeeper from Maharashtra), Paromita Sit (midfielder from Karnataka), Kavita Devi (forward from Haryana), Gita Das (forward from West Bengal), Nandhini Munusamy (forward from Tamil Nadu).