Misery in Olympic village for Indian hockey team

The Indian women's Hockey side, that has qualified for the Olympics after a huge gap of 36 years, played their opening encounter against Japan on Sunday. Meanwhile, their male counterparts had to squeeze themselves into a small room to watch women's team in action on a TV screen.

 

The International Olympic Association (IOA) has provided the Indian men's hockey team with just one television, which is why they were forced to watch the match in a small room.

 

The Indian hockey team hasn't got the best of accommodations at the Olympic village, each apartment houses six athletes but has only two chairs and a few tables.

 

The official Twitter account of Hockey India shared a picture of the men's national side watching the women's match. The picture clearly showed Indian forward S V Sunil and midfielder Manpreet Singh sat on the floor along with other teammates.

 

 

 

 

The Indian Hockey Head Coach Roelant Oltmans recently complained against the unfurnished accommodation provided to both India men and women's team. The coach claimed that the teams had to bring in a few tables and while they tried to rent more televisions, they failed to get them on rent.

 

"During the Olympics, we would like to give our players the possibility to watch the matches of our competitors live on TV. This will help players prepare themselves for upcoming matches against the same opponents," Oltmans said.

 

The Indian women's hockey team kept the fans' hope alive as they managed to hold the higher-ranked Japan to a 2-2 draw in their opening fixture. The World No. 13 Team India were trailing by two goals at half-time after Japan's Emi Nishikori ('15) and Mie Nakashima ('28) scored two successive goals.

 

However, the Indians made a valiant comeback as Rani Rampal ('31) and Lilima Minz ('40) scored a goal each in the third and fourth quarters to ensure a point for their side.