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After India lost all its matches during the London Olympics, sports critics and fans had termed the worst-ever phase in the history of the sport as far as the country’s performance in Olympics was concerned. Their apprehensions certainly could not be ignored. The Indian hockey camp that is underway at the NIS, Patiala, can certainly allay these apprehensions. One cannot imagine that these players were badly crushed by their opponents just a couple of months back. Confidence reflects in their every move and their body language. The camp, which started at Patiala after lot of controversy, has brought the hockey grounds at the NIS back to life. After a gap of six years, the Indian men contingent has returned to the NIS. The camp was being attended by both junior and senior players. Around 60 players were training for the forthcoming tournaments. The junior brigade has already left compete in Sultan Johar Cup that begins today at Malaysia (November 11 to 18). Meanwhile, the senior players are here till November 19 and will then leave to play in three back-to-back tournaments beginning with Lanco International Super Series in Perth, Australia, from November 22 to 25, followed by FIH Champions Trophy in Melbourne (December 1 to 9) and second Asian Champions Trophy in Doha (December 20 to 27). Training under chief coach Michael Nobbs, the players are following a rigorous schedule. While many experienced players like Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh are further honing their skills, many talented youngsters like Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh, Kothajit Singh and Yuvraj are also training along with these players and taking tips both from the coaches and senior players. Though players seem to have overcome the odds and are back in the groove, they and the coaches are refraining from talking to the media. Probably they want to succeed in the forthcoming competitions before facing media queries. At this stage none of them is ready to discuss the past and awaiting a fresh start. Coaches from the SAI and other national coaches currently assisting the team say that though the players were very disappointed about their performance at the Olympics but they have come moved ahead. Talking to The Tribune, these coaches said, "Our players are good. Till the time they were playing on grass, there was no match, and even today they are no match on grass. But the fact is they will have to learn to beat their opponents on astroturf if they want to win. Indian players are still struggling because of this problem since there is no system in place at the grassroots level. They play on grass throughout their training and one fine day they are made to play on astroturf and asked to perform. Though lot of things have changed now and India is spending crores on sports at present, we are just hoping that we get more players so that we could have more players to chose from in order to find the best," one of the coaches added.
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