Pain before gain for Indian hockey team

India players celebrate a goal against Great Britain earlier this year

World No. 5 India are on a high, having beaten reigning Olympic champions Argentina 3-2 and 3-0 in a FIH Hockey Pro League double header in Buenos Aires recently. This was their first competitive outing after over a year given the global Covid-19 situation. And while Indian hockey is on the cusp of history as it appears to be in the best possible shape to win a medal at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics (July 23 to August 8), this past year has also been a testing period for them off the field due to the pandemic.

Coach Graham Reid

‘Challenging preparations'

Chief Coach Graham Reid, 57, a former Australian hockey player, who has won medals at the Champions Trophy, World Cup and Olympics across the 1980s and 90s, admitted that this has been the toughest phase of his professional career. "This is one of the most challenging Olympic preparations I have ever been involved with. Even in a normal Olympic year, for both coaches and players, the pressure of selection and trying to get the team to be the best they can in time to perform when required is a challenge. Add to this the fact that we have been through this process almost twice now - last year and this year. The uncertainty of this pandemic and its complications has been a massive challenge. Throughout however, we have tried to maintain the mantra that we can't control what happens to us but we can control the way we react," Reid told mid-day from the national camp at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Bangalore on Thursday.

In August last year, six Indian men's players - skipper Manpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar, Krishan Pathak and Mandeep Singh - tested positive for the Coronavirus, and while all got well soon, Surender developed a clot in his arm and had to be treated for a post-Covid complication, venous thrombosis. This was in the initial stages of the pandemic and its chaos so not much data was available, leaving the coaching staff to use all their experience to motivate the worried players. "There was a sense of uncertainty because at that point not many athletes had got Covid-19 yet. But since these guys are strong and fit athletes, data showed that it was not too dangerous for younger people and those without co-morbidities. However, it was a good reminder for everybody that this was a serious virus and complications can develop even for the fittest of people. We did not take any chances and all the athletes were admitted to hospital," added Reid.

Players motivated

Throughout the treatment and even after it initially the players were cautiously apprehensive and it was up to the coaches once again to motivate them, keeping in mind the all-important Olympic goal.

"We [Hockey India, SAI and the team's support staff] got to designing SOPs to protect everyone concerned. We worked upon things like return to play protocols, what sort of testing should be done, how quickly they could begin training, etc. Slowly, it gave all the players confidence that they were in the best hands. We [coaching staff] were constantly in contact with the [recovering] players and involved them in all our Zoom meetings. We also made sure that they were always able to contact their families, who were obviously very worried about them. In fact, Surender and I still joke with each other. I tell him: ‘How are you feeling Surender, is everything ok?' And he laughs because he has heard this question from me so many times during that period," concluded Reid.

Also Read: Ex-hockey umpire Ravinder Sodhi passes away due to Covid-19 complications