Veterans likely to miss out on tour

BANGALORE: The break from practice hasn’t merely been a chastening experience for the five hockey players who have been kept out of the national camp. Adrian D’Souza, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh and Prabhjot Singh have missed six days of training, although they have followed their respective routines away from prying eyes.

The ‘rebels’ will return to the fold on Wednesday after HI gave them ‘provisional permission’ to train with the others but with the workload of the campers considerably up in the last few days, it seems increasingly difficult for them to make good the widening gap as Team India prepares for its first competition, the Asian Champions Trophy in Ordos from Sept 3.

“They’ve missed out on drills for many days now and I feel it’ll be tough for them to be up to the mark in the coming weeks. This may prove expensive and they may even miss Asian Champions Trophy,” exercise physiologist David John told TOI.