Hockey players positive: Experts bat for training camps

When Sports Authority of India resumed the national hockey camp for both men and women last week following a one and half month break, they were well aware of the risks involved. There were chances of players, living in different parts of the country, testing positive for coronavirus upon returning to the facility here.

Not surprisingly five of them tested positive of Friday. And with the results of other players now awaited, more players joining that list can't be ruled out. With no international events lined up until the end of the year for both men and women – a decision on Men’s Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka from Nov 17-27 is yet to be made – it begs the question why resume training knowing full well the possibility of players contracting the virus. Could the camps have been organised a little later?

Former India captain and CEO of Olympic Gold Quest Viren Rasquinha felt there’s no guarantee the pandemic will subside in the near future and lauded SAI for taking the initiative in calling for a camp. “Administrators are in a very difficult situation now," be said. "When the Sports Ministry had shut all camps, many of them wanted to train. Now when they allowed training, some of them wanted it stopped because of the fear of contracting the virus. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

“Let’s face it, our home minister (Amit Shah) has tested positive. Governors, chief ministers and A list celebrities are testing positive. And there’s no vaccine in sight. Elite athletes need continuous elite-level training, else it’ll be detrimental for their career. Two-three months without proper training will set them back by three years and we don’t want that situation. This team has come a long way and we don’t want them to go back to the poor fitness levels.”

Former top goalkeeper and 1998 Asian Games gold medallist Ashish Ballal too echoed Rasquinha’s thoughts. “The Olympics is one year away and you can’t turn up for practice one month prior to the event," he emphasised. "It’s a wrong notion that if there are no events, there’s no need to train. Hockey is a high endurance sport where skills also play an equally important role. It’s very hard to build muscle and core strength but easy to lose them.

“I believe all necessary protocols were followed and players have been in solitary confinement for the duration of the quarantine period. So once they tide through this phase and all players return negative for the disease, they can start proper training. To me, that’s the way to go about. No point living in fear.”

Ballal also felt players are better of at SAI rather than at their respective houses. “The most important thing for an elite athlete is proper diet and once these players go back, despite being told what to eat and what not, the diet goes out of the window. We all know what Punjabis love to eat. So away from training and poor diet would be a proper disaster. We don’t want a situation where players start breaking down before big events. It's good SAI has taken the initiative to resume the camps."