When the whole country suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Olympic Games were postponed for a year, the Indian men’s team was locked up at the center of the Indian Sports Authority (SAI) in Bengaluru.
During one of the zoom call meetings with the team, the captain of the Indian gentlemen Manpreet Singh pointed out that the team would have to train in the afternoon to cope with the heat of Tokyo.
The team officials and players were a little reluctant as cramps and injuries could result. Coach Graham Reid liked the captain’s idea, however, and they started training in the afternoon three months before the games.
“As the weather in Tokyo will be very hot at this time of year, we will practice in the afternoon to get used to the heat,” Manpreet told IndiaToday.In before the team left for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Training in the heat will also put our fitness to the test, as we compete against the best teams in the world and will hardly get any easy games,” said Manpreet.
The Indian captain Manpreet Singh was on point with his forecast of the weather in the Japanese capital, as it is a sauna-like state during the games.
Conditions are far from ideal to play and in most games the officials have doubled the usual two minutes between quarters to allow players to cool off from the heat on the main field of the Oi Hockey Stadium. In addition, the lawn is sprayed with water in each quarter to keep the game fast and smooth.
The Indian men’s hockey team made history when they won an Olympic medal after 41 years and beat a brave Germany 5-4 to take bronze in a play-off game on the sidelines of the current games seat here on Thursday.
With an unprecedented eight gold medals in its kitten, Indian ice hockey has a rich history in the Olympics, with its most recent triumph at the Moscow Games in 1980.
Indian ice hockey has since seen a downtrend when the former masters of the game got their best result – a fifth place – at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
After failing to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games and finishing last at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, hockey continued to deteriorate as a sport in the country.
But over the past five years, India’s performance has improved significantly, bringing it to third place in the world.
Since taking the helm of the team two years ago, Australian Graham Reid has brought Indian players a sense of self-confidence, connectedness and self-confidence that was lacking as they often wither under pressure despite having the skills needed to cope with the world his bat.
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