Tokyo 2020- India men’s hockey team trained in the afternoons in Bangalore to gear up for extreme heat in Tokyo

Tokyo 2020: when the entire country was reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Olympics were postponed by a year, the Indian men’s team was locked inside the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru.

During one of the zoom call meetings with the team, Indian men’s captain Manpreet Singh harped on the fact that the team needed to train in the afternoon to tackle the heat of Tokyo.

The team officials and the players were a bit reluctant because it might create cramps, leading to injuries. However, coach Graham Reid liked the captain’s idea, and three months before the Games, they started practicing in the afternoon.

“Since the weather in Tokyo will be very hot at this time of year, we are practicing in the afternoon to get used to the heat,” Manpreet had told IndiaToday.In before the team’s departure to Tokyo for the Olympics.

“Training in the heat will also test our fitness level as we will be competing against the world’s top teams and will hardly get any easy matches,” Manpreet said.

Indian captain Manpreet Singh was on point about his prediction on the weather of the Japanese capital as it is a sauna-like condition at the Games.