The Indian Men’s Hockey Team is scheduled to play the Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka, early March next year provided there are no travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Midfielder Sumit feels this will be a perfect platform to test where the team stands. “We have been very fortunate to resume training and we have been provided with a bio-safe environment by SAI and Hockey India to hone our skills. The Asian Champions Trophy next year will show the level we are at and how much we will need to further improve ahead of the Olympic Games,” said the midfielder who was part of the India Colts Team that won the FIH Junior Men’s World Cup in 2016.
Speaking of the on-going National Coaching Camp in SAI, Bengaluru, Sumit said the team is making progress and is headed in the right direction. “Though we won’t be competing this year due to the pandemic, the sessions are planned in such a way that we play matches against each other where we are expected to bring out our best. We have something called red sessions which are high-intensity sessions and I can tell that we are in much better form both mentally and physically than when we started out in August after mandatory quarantine,” said Sumit who hails from Sonipat.
Having missed out on some important tournaments last year due to a wrist injury, Sumit says he is eager to compete and wear the India jersey. “I had suffered a wrist injury during the FIH Men’s Series Finals in Bhubaneswar last June. It was a long road to recovery and I was happy to have been picked for the FIH Hockey Pro League earlier this year where I got to play against top teams. To make the Indian Team, one has to be really good at executing what is expected of us and there is good internal competition. For now, I am giving my 100 percent in training and I look forward to hopefully playing in the Asian Champions Trophy and defending our title next year,” he concluded.
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