Indian hockey team camp returns to Pune after a year

By Tushar Dutt | Place: Pune | Agency: DNA

After a gap of almost one year, Indian hockey team camp returned to Pune as chief coach Michael Nobbs and his boys arrived for 10-day training at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi on Friday.

Ahead of their scheduled tour of South Africa to participate in the Champions Challenge from November 26 to December 4, the team will go through a ‘special training’ here. The camp has 24 players minus former skipper Rajpal Singh, who is on bed rest after he was operated upon for appendicitis in Australia.

While talking to DNA, Nobbs said that the team will get special training in high-altitude chamber, to prepare the team well before they reach South Africa.

“The boys will be playing at 3,800 feet above the sea level. We don’t want them to face difficulty while playing there, so we will be training them in high-altitude chamber,” said Nobbs.

Team’s trainer John David said this type of training will help the boys adjust according to the altitude. “In the high-altitude chamber, the boys will do some basic exercises, among which, running will be the most important. During our stay of 10 days, we will do this training every day for an hour,” said David.