Hockey camp shifted to Pune, seniors back in fold

uthraGchaturvedi

There was a change of plan as the Indian men’s hockey team got ready for the Commonwealth Games camp. Earlier scheduled to train in the capital from Wednesday, the squad will now assemble at the Balewadi sports complex in Pune instead.
Among those lining up for reporting for the camp on Wednesday evening would be senior players like Arjun Halappa, Adrian D’Souza and Vikram Pillay, who have been out of the national squad for some time now.

“The list of probables for the Commonwealth Games has been pruned from the initial 48 to 37. The likes of Arjun Halappa, Adrian D’Souza, Vikram Pillay will all be there. The final list will be decided later,” national coach Harendra Singh said, adding that he got to know about the change in venue at the last minute.

“I was attending the FIH coaching course and the Champions Trophy. Only this morning I got to know that the team will be reporting in Pune on Wednesday. The training will start from day after,” Harendra said.

The National Stadium was all set to host the team till the Games beginning October 3, and their stay booked at a city hotel. But the venue switch mean the team will now land in Delhi around mid-September. “There has been lot of controversy surrounding the Games at present and we don’t want the players to get affected by all this. So we decided to shift the training camp to Pune,” a team management staff said.

Meanwhile, Harendra is keen on looking at the players’ fitness. “They have had about 20 days’ break after being on road for almost three months non-stop. I want to see their fitness before getting down to serious training. But there is no denying that things are not going the way they should be,” he said.

About the senior players, Harendra said there was never any doubt on their capabilities. “Players like Arjun or Adrian are world class. They were playing non-stop and we had to try out newer players, so the recent Europe tour was ideal for that. But the senior players will be back in the camp,” he said.

Bad scheduling

However, Harendra was unhappy with the scheduling of the Commonweath Games, blaming the organisers of being short-sighted. “They have even scheduled games at 8.30 in the morning! Who will come at that time?

“The final of the tournament has been scheduled at 1 in the afternoon! Nowhere in the world does something like this happen,” he said.

Harendra also said trying new players was a necessity given the fact that injuries were sure to happen. “Hockey is a physical sport; and the teams will be of 16 players. Take out 2 goalkeepers, and we have 14 players to select 10 from at any point. a few injuries or off-colour players and the entire combination will go haywire. So it was good to test new players,” he said.