At hockey camp, focus on Olympic qualifiers

BANGALORE: The men’s hockey camp got underway at the Sports Authority of India, South Centre on Sunday as India entered the home stretch for the Olympic qualifiers in February.

Chief coach Michael Nobbs, who landed in Bangalore on Sunday, said training would begin on Tuesday as he expected a majority of the 48 players to land at the South Centre by Monday night.

It is not clear whether former skipper Rajpal Singh, who got married to shooter Avneet Kaur on Sunday and Tushar Khandker, who will tie the knot in Jhansi on December 16, will attend the camp. “I am busy with wedding preparations,” Tushar told TOI.

The camp, according to Nobbs, is until the end of December before the action shifts to New Delhi, where the Indian team is likely to play a few test matches with a few visiting national teams. Nobbs himself will leave for Australia, along with exercise physiologist David John, on December 23 for Christmas and New Year before returning on January 2.

Of the 48 probables, the core group of 24 will be put through the grind to iron out a few wrinkles that had irked Nobbs in South Africa. “We will have a separate training methodology for the core group. There will be a programme too for others but the core group needs to be given special tasks as we prepare for the qualifiers.”