Bengaluru: Two players and three members of the support staff of the Indian men’s hockey team, currently preparing for the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Bengaluru have tested positive for Covid-19, Hockey India confirmed in a statement on Thursday.
India hockey stalwarts such as goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas are among 31 players included in the Commonwealth Games camp, which began on June 27 in Bengaluru and will conclude on July 23 when the team leaves for Birmingham for the quadrennial showpiece.
“The RTPCR tests were conducted on Wednesday morning. They have mild symptoms and have been isolated,” Hockey India said in a release.
After their impressive outing in Europe where the men’s team lived up to the billing against Belgium and the Netherlands in thrilling FIH Pro League double-headers, the team is in the national camp at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru, where players are doing the final fine-tuning for the mega event.
India, which is being led by Manpreet Singh, is scheduled to begin their campaign on July 31 against Ghana. Grouped in Pool B, India will also take on hosts England, Canada and Wales in the round-robin league matches.
Campers’ list: PR Sreejesh, Pawan, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Gursahibjit Singh, Mandeep Mor, Sanjay, Mohd Raheel Mouseen, Sumit, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Gurinder Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Ashis Kumar Topno, Krishan B Pathak, Shilanand Lakra.
–IANS