Indian women’s hockey team to resume Olympic preparations with Argentina tour in Jan
New Delhi: Indian women hockey team will restart their Olympic preparations when they travel to Argentina next week for its first tour in nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted all the sports activities around the world.
The Indian team is scheduled to leave on January 3 from New Delhi and will be competing in 8 matches against the host nation starting from January 17. The total core group of 25 players and 7 support staff will be traveling for the Tour of Argentina.
“We have a little over 200 days before we arrive in Tokyo for the Olympic Games in July 2021 and it was very important to play matches against a strong team like Argentina,” Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani said in a statement issued by Hockey India.
“The team is really excited for this opportunity and has been keenly looking forward to this tour, this exposure will make us understand the level we are at after nearly a five-month long National Coaching Camp in Bengaluru,” she added.
This will be the first time the Indian Hockey team preparing for the Olympic Games has received government sanction to travel for an international assignment.
The Indian women’s team last participated in an International tour in January 2020 when they travelled to New Zealand for a five-match series. The team played both the New Zealand & Great Britain women in the 5-match series and were victorious in three of the five matches.
“I am happy that after one year we are able to play international matches. This tour will give us information for the next step to be made in our preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games,” said chief coach Sjoerd Marijne.
Hockey India and the host National Association have planned to create a bio bubble in Argentina for both the teams. The Indian women’s team will be staying in a hotel where provisions to have separate rooms/halls for the team for all the meals, team meetings, sessions etc have been made.
The accommodation will be on twin sharing basis, where the room sharing partners will remain same throughout the tour who will also be same even in case of the seating arrangement in the team coach/bus, this has been planned carefully keeping in mind all necessary requirements.
“This tour has been planned very carefully keeping in mind the safety of players and we are truly grateful to Hockey India and SAI for ensuring we resume competition despite the ongoing pandemic,” Rani said.
Among other protocols, the team members will not be moving out of the bubble and meeting any third-party source as even while travelling to the match/training venue the team will be travelling in a dedicated transport which will only take upto 80 per cent capacity.
The entire Indian contingent will undergo COVID-19 RT-PCR Test 72 hours prior to their departure from New Delhi. There is no requirement of quarantine upon arrival in Argentina but the team will still be following all safety and health measures as advised by the respective Governments of India & Argentina.