Indian men’s hockey team to head to South Africa for upcoming Paris Olympics preparation

The Indian men’s hockey team will head to South Africa later this month to train for the upcoming Olympic Games. The senior men’s team, who will be training in Cape Town for 15 days from January 14th onwards, will also be competing against the South African, French and Netherland teams during this period.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport (MYAS) has approved financial assistance for the training of 26 athletes and nine coaches and support staff for this period. The financial assistance of over Rs. 1.30 crores will cover their airfare, boarding and lodging charges, visa fees, medical insurance costs, food supplements and physiotherapy consumable costs among other expenses.

Indian men’s coach Craig Fulton said, “I believe the players are returning fresh from a good break with their families for the holiday season. We begin the hockey season for the year with the South Africa Tour and from here on it will only get busier with regular games leading up to the Paris Olympics. Our core group is quite solid with experienced players and some of them named in this group will also be playing the FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Muscat, Oman.”

“As always, this camp too will be focused on getting better as a team and we are eager to get on with the season,” Fulton added

The Indian women’s team will also prepare for the upcoming Paris Olympic Qualifiers in Ranchi. The women’s team will be training and acclimatizing in Jharkhand for a week ahead of the FIH Qualifiers that take place from January 13th onwards.