Adopting dogs to making rotis, how hockey stars are unwinding in Rourkela

The league — liable for turning astir the fortunes of the Indian hockey squad — was restarted successful December aft a seven-year hiatus. And portion its relaunch was welcomed successful the hockey world, the determination to clasp it successful conscionable 1 metropolis had a mixed response.

Rourkela, though hockey-crazy, offers constricted recreation options. For the players, it meant that their lives for the past 5 weeks were mostly restricted to the magnificent Birsa Munda Stadium, the adjoining grooming transportation and gym, and the on-site hotel.

And so, they recovered ways to unwind and instrumentality their minds disconnected hockey.

In a societal media post, erstwhile World Cup and Olympic champion from Belgium, Victor Wegnez, listed 10 antithetic things helium had done during his clip successful Rourkela. Among these was however his teammates astatine the Soorma Hockey Club had adopted stray puppies adjacent the squad hotel.

“There’s a litter of puppies connected the mode from the edifice to the stadium, and the squad has adopted this batch — taking turns to provender the litter. Sardar Singh (former India skipper and Soorma mentor) and Wegnez, successful particular, person gone supra and beyond to look aft them,” Kunaal Majgaonkar, who heads Soorma’s media team, said. “Sardar has got them small beds, apparel and food. There isn’t overmuch to bash astir Rourkela and these puppies person go the champion imaginable distraction for the team,” helium said.

Wegnez, successful 1 of his posts, thanked Sardar for adopting 1 of the puppies. “My small lad volition turn successful a beauteous household acknowledgment to Sardar,” helium wrote successful the post, which besides included a video of Australia’s Jeremy Hayward trying retired panipuri — and seemingly uncovering it not excessively spicy.

The players astatine Soorma besides watched the Border Gavaskar Trophy together. “The boys were pursuing the India-Australia Tests, and determination were a fewer Europeans who had nary thought astir the game. They were perpetually asking the Indian players astir the rules, and they recovered it precise intriguing. So, connected their off-day, they each got unneurotic and played cricket,” Majgaonkar said.

A video of a cricket lucifer connected Soorma’s Instagram shows skipper Harmanpreet Singh teasing a teammate astir his bowling, and the team’s caput manager Jeroen Baart from the Netherlands trying to play a hook shot, among different specified moments.

Cricket is besides a large portion of the off-day activities for Hyderabad Toofans, 1 of the teams that volition vie successful Friday’s semifinals, squad manager Siddharth Pandey said. “Every 10 days, we looked astatine doing thing fun,” Pandey said. “Our archetypal was a Christmas enactment wherever we asked the players to play immoderate games. On December 31st night, we had a New Year’s enactment wherever we had games again. On January 6, we booked a cricket crushed and took the full squad determination to play a match,” helium said.

They took it a measurement further a week later. After the Toofans played the Kalinga Lancers, the squad was fixed 3 days off. “So, the overseas players went to play play successful Bengaluru. Some of the Indians went to Puri, to the Jagannath temple, portion immoderate went to Ranchi; I went bowling,” Pandey said.

Toofans’ defender Arthur de Sloover adjacent tried his manus astatine making rotis. “The Belgians person immersed themselves. Not conscionable Arthur successful our team, but adjacent Victor and Vincent Vanasch from Soorma HC. They person got on truthful good with everyone here,” Pandey said.

The Tamil Nadu Dragons, which has besides reached the semifinals, made the abbreviated travel to Ranchi — the venue for women’s HIL, wherever the men’s franchises played a lucifer each — and took clip disconnected to sojourn the hockey academy successful Simdega. The territory is location to immoderate of India’s apical women players, including Sangita Kumari, Beauty Dungdung and skipper Salima Tete.

A B Subbaiah, erstwhile India goalkeeper and Kalinga Lancers squad manager, said Hockey India could see adding much venues from adjacent play truthful that players tin unwind successful larger cities.

“We played immoderate cricket and shot extracurricular the edifice arsenic team-building activities. The metropolis is small, truthful options were limited,” Subbaiah told The Indian Express. “There are 2 malls wherever we occasionally went retired with Indian players, but bigger cities connection much activities similar bowling oregon golf. Holding the league successful 1 spot for specified a agelong clip felt a spot tiresome.”

Subbaiah said portion the players tried to marque the champion retired of the situation, playing cards by the excavation astatine the squad hotel, video games and truthful on, determination was feedback that the league could beryllium condensed a spot due to the fact that determination were excessively galore breaks betwixt matches.

While playing a five-week league successful Rourkela whitethorn not person been ideal, arsenic Wegnez enactment it, immoderate of the overseas players lived “the Indian acquisition 100 per cent”.