Indian hockey players underweight, says physio David John

BANGALORE: Indians are underweight and will take a while before they add muscle and a few kilos to their slender selves, says exercise physiologist David John.

The Australian, who has been with the Indian hockey team for three months now, said the average weight of the Indian hockey team was 63 kg and wanted the players to add bulk as it would help in improving their fitness.

“The fitness levels are significantly better than when we went to China. It has been two hard weeks of preparation here. But the players are still underweight,” John said.

“Food was a problem in China and many of them ate very little. To make things worse we had limited food supplements and as a result they lost weight. That was quite risky as players like Gurvinder Chandy and Yuvraj Walmiki couldn’t afford to lose more. But the players managed to regain what they lost in the past two weeks. In Australia, the players will use protein supplements three times a day to increase their weight.”

John said he had no previous knowledge of the problem but realized he had his task cut out.

“Cricketers at MRF, where I have worked, were made to do weight training from a relatively younger age than the hockey players. Obviously, they have more muscle and weight than hockey players. Also, we have seven vegetarians in the team, including Sardar, Sarvanjit, Rajpal, Ravipal, Manpreet and Chandy. It is difficult for them to gain weight with the amount of physical exertion they go through,” he said.

These players had iron infusions on Saturday to battle low levels of the mineral and to increase their endurance fitness. They have also been prescribed protein supplements (soya beans and whey) much more than the non-vegetarian teammates.

John admitted he couldn’t do much to help the vegetarians at the camp. “We can only rely on the supplements. Even for the non-vegetarians, I advocate menu changes during tournaments. Players are put on specific diet 24 hours before each game as we did in China. Coffee is another way as caffeine increases mobilization of fat which is your best fuel. It helps in playing longer and harder without fatigue. Most professional teams in Australia use some form of caffeine.”