Singh also played in the 1979 Junior World Cup and took voluntary retirement from State Bank of India after quitting hockey.
Indian women’s hockey team forward Jyoti is making sure she gets to learn all that she can, both on and off the field, from the experienced players who are part of the ongoing national camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility here.
The 28-year-old has remained a consistent performer with the team, and is hopeful she will have the opportunity to represent the tricolor in Tokyo next year.
The men’s camp, which started in early August, has been extended till November 28 while the women’s team will train until December 12, SAI said in a statement.
Chand started playing hockey when he joined the Indian Army at the age of 16, as a sepoy.
When asked about the best moments from his career, Akashdeep said that he enjoyed being part of India’s success at the Men’s Series Finals and Olympic Qualifiers last year.
The players had been diagnosed with COVID-19 following their arrival at the SAI’s National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) for the hockey national camp which began on August 4.
“SAI authorities on campus took an immediate decision to shift him to SS Sparsh multispeciality hospital as a precautionary measure. His condition is currently stable,” it added.
Earlier, captain Manpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar and Krishan Pathak had also been diagnosed with COVID-19 upon arrival at the centre for the hockey national camp which began on August 4.
This was revealed since as a proactive step, SAI made it mandatory for all athletes, who reported back to the camp to take a rapid COVID-19 test upon arrival.
The states Hockey High Performance Centre (HPC) that was launched a year ago in Kalinga Stadium, is all set to induct 30 boys in the coming months.
Over the course of the next three weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic forced sports calendars to come to a grinding halt and a nation-wide lockdown was imposed on March 25.
India last won a gold in Hockey in 1980 in Moscow Olympics. Since then, they have participated in eight Olympic editions but have failed to make a podium finish.
After over two months of staying indoors during the nationwide lockdown, the captains stated that the team’s approach right now is “resume cautiously and slowly”.
International hockey player Jasjit Singh Kular, the resident of Sansarpur village in Jalandhar feeds stray dogs ever since the nationwide lockdown was announced due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Balbir breathed his last in a private hospital in Chandigarh on Monday. He was 96 and was in a critical condition for nearly a fortnight.
The three-time Olympic gold winner was hospitalised in Mohali on May 8 and has been on ventilator support.
India, who have hosted the men’s World Cup thrice, has been named as host country for 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup to be conducted in the January 13 to 29, 2023 window.
The two high voltage clashes will take place where Indian men’s hockey team will take on Russia while the Indian women will face the USA
