Indian teams getting ready for qualifiers

PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENT

It is interesting to note how the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams have been preparing for the Olympic qualifiers to be held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here from Feb. 18 to 26.

Both the teams have entered a phase where they have to make decisions as to how they will approach the qualifiers. Next week, the two sides are playing Test series against Azerbaijan (women) and South Africa (men) to get some practice and select the final squads.

The men’s side sounded confident of its ability and preparation, while the women’s outfit had to sort out a few fitness issues as it is on the threshold of the four-match series against the Central Asian team.

David John, the men’s team trainer, is the man behind enhancing the players’ fitness as well as their speed on the turf. “Their hockey fitness is better now,” says John as he explains how players shouldering responsibilities in different zones need to perform different exercises. “This has reduced the injuries. There is no muscle injury now. Whatever little was there, it was due to impact.”

Besides, John also controls the rotation of the players, which he says he does very quickly to save their energy level during a match, and the kind of food they should eat. “The goal-keepers need less carbohydrates on match days as this makes their mental capacity better.”

John said most of the players had improved around 30 to 40 per cent in terms of fitness. “Others were at a higher level, so they had to fine tune things.”

He said the fitness programme would stay till the Olympic qualifier. If some junior players proved their worth and made the team, then they would also go through a specific programme, he added.

Rupinderpal Singh and Yuvraj Walmiki, who had been advised a few weeks rest due to various injuries, participated in the practice session on Thursday.

Tushar Khandekar said the team had been performing well and working on the areas that had denied India the Champions Challenge title in Johannesburg. “We are practising how to concede lesser number of short corners,” he said. — Principal Correspondent