The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams will continue to stay in the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru where they had been training before the lockdown in view of the coronavirus pandemic was announced on Tuesday.
Senior SAI officials are of the view that despite the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the teams should stay in the campuses given the three-week long lockdown in the country due to the spread of the coronavirus. Both teams had already qualified for the Summer Olympics originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 24.
With no air, rail or road transport available and movement totally restricted, players are staying in the highly sanitised environment in the SAI training centres. But with the Olympics pushed to next year, the teams will now have to prepare for competitions that Hockey India and International Hockey Federation will schedule once the pandemic-related situation worldwide acquires some semblance of normalcy.
Hockey India, after consultation with SAI will hold a meeting with the chief coaches of both teams, in order to map out a training and fixture schedule. Reacting to news of the postponement of the Olympic Games, Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Graham Reid said he felt sorry for those athletes who had spent four years of their life preparing for the Olympics.
“It is very disappointing that the Olympics will not go ahead in 2020, but given the unprecedented circumstances facing the world at present, it is totally understandable and expected. I feel sorry for all the athletes who have dedicated the last four years of their life for this. However, postponement rather than cancellation will give most of them enough motivation to continue to push through this tough period,” Reid said.
Reid reiterated that the year’s delay would only make Team India a stronger and bigger threat. “The positive in this situation for us is that we have another year to work with this young squad. Unlike many other countries, there is no time lost for us. We will now rework our programme and be ready for International competition as soon as restrictions are lifted. I think the recent FIH Hockey Pro League games against the top 3 teams in the world showed that we are competitive. I’m excited to think about what this team can do with another year under its belt,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said that the team was highly motivated. “Clearly, the girls’ motivation is undeterred by this announcement and we will continue to look at the positives and work hard to be our best. I am sure once the situation around COVIS-19 improves, we will sit down with Hockey India management to plan out a fresh calendar for the preparations leading up to the Olympics next year.”
Indian men’s team skipper Manpreet Singh admitted that the possibility of a postponement of Olympic Games was at the back of the players’ mind. “Though, somewhere at the back of our minds, we anticipated this could happen considering the impact COVID-19 has made across the globe, we had never let it affect our training or the intensity needed in every session.”
Both teams appeared to be building up well, ensuring qualification and top-notch performances in the FIH Series Finals and the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in front of the home crowd in November last year. The men’s team’s fine performances against top teams in the FIH Hockey Pro League earlier this year, too, had been extremely encouraging going into Tokyo Olympics.
There is a sense of disappointment in the Indian camp due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, but they are motivated to continue to put in the hard yards for the quadrennial event next year.
The women’s team captain Rani Rampal expressed disappointment at the postponement as well. “Personally, I was very disappointed because the team was in good rhythm to do well at the Tokyo Olympics. But if you see our team’s performance in the past two years in specific, we have grown from strength to strength, challenging every top team in the world. It is important for the team to remain focused and continue to keep up the intensity.”
