London: The Indian Men Hockey Team arrived at Olympic Games Village in London on Friday evening from Spain.
At the Athletes Village, the squad was welcomed by the officials of Indian contingent. The team got down to training sessions on Saturday spending an hour in the gym and two hours of practice on the blue turf at Riverside Arena, the venue for the Olympic Games competition.
The Indian Team will now train for another week before starting its Olympic campaign against the Netherlands on June 30 followed by matches against New Zealand on August 1, Germany on August 3, Korea on August 5 and Belgium on August 7.
The Indian players are excited before the start of the grand event. Captain Bharat Chetri said “It's good to get some extra time to get used to the conditions. I am confident that we will live up to the expectations of everyone and perform well this time. We had good preparations in France and Spain which helped us to get acclimatize to the conditions.
“We spent a week in London during the Test event in the first week of May and that experience will help us. The boys are very excited and eager for the competition to start, as this is the best time for us to once again show our potential on the World stage,” Chetri said. "We were also touched by the Golden Greats' blessings at the function in Delhi on June 24. We have been inspired."
Before reaching London, the Indian Team had played eight matches against four different teams -- France, Spain, South Africa and Great Britain on blue pitches in France and Spain.
