Hockey training starts at Kalinga Stadium

As

Unlock1.0

started,

Kalinga Stadium

opened its gates for sporting activities and elite athletes to resume their training for the

Olympics

. The cadets from

the Hockey High Performance Centre

, the

Naval Tata Hockey Academy Odisha

, have started outdoor training at the stadium. They are following the standard operating procedure laid down by the state and

Covid-19

international guidelines for players suggested by

National Centre for Disease Control

.

A team of 23 players have been training under head coach P Laxminarayan. They are undergoing complete physical assessment and lab tests, performance management and analysis at Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centre. They are also undergoing individual strength and conditioning trainings.



Rajiv Seth, project director of the academy, said, “We are following all the guidelines and players have been asked to strictly follow

social distancing

while interacting with fellow sportspersons, trainers and support staff, wear mask while not training, wash hands and maintain personal hygiene. Their health is closely monitored for any flu like symptoms. Since

hockey

is a contact sport, players have been asked not to shake hands, hug or do hi-fives.”



The academy that had started in public-private partnership basis has 18 cadets from Odisha, five from Jharkhand, two from Assam, one from Punjab, UP and Manipur each. The academy has maximum capacity for 30 girls. “Currently, the team is training in small clusters of five as part of the guidelines. Training with hockey sticks will commence from first week of July,” informed the coach.