‘I am swimming in sweat’: Teams get innovative to counter furnace-like Asia Cup weather in Rajgir

If you are at the Rajgir Sports Complex, the usually breezy mornings can lure you out for a walk. But as the day grows, the friendly-looking conditions soon turn hot and humid, to the extent that teams at the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup have resorted to measures like reduced warm-up time, quicker substitutions and coconut water to counter electrolyte deficiency and fatigue.

While a temperature in the vicinity of 35 may seem normal Indian summer, the accompanying humidity in the city is what’s turning 60 minutes of hockey into a fitness test. In such weather conditions, temperature on the synthetic astro turf is at times comparable to asphalt, increasing the risk of heat stress.

It makes precaution and recovery a key aspect, which is why India captain Harmanpreet Singh didn’t find it surprising that he consumed almost 20 bottles of water during a two-hour practice session.

‘I am swimming in sweat’

“It’s 20 times more than what the temperature shows,” Bangladesh’s Ashraful Islam told Firstpost after they beat Chinese Taipei 8-3 on Saturday. “I drank four litres of water in one match.”

The humidity makes a goalkeeper’s job inside the kit an even more challenging affair.

“It feels like I am swimming in sweat,” said Bangladesh goalkeeper Biplob Kujur. “By the end of the match, with the kit drenched in sweat, the body weight seems double.”

There is no compromise on recovery measures in such conditions.

“I will go and have an ice bath, lots of cold saline water and crash on the bed. The physio will come, give a massage. There are some medicines that we are given to rehydrate and also a lot of coconut water,” Biplob added.

‘This is Malaysia weather’

Also present at the tournament is former India coach Roelant Oltmans, who is not new to hot Indian conditions and has also worked in Malaysia, where humidity levels remain high.

Oltmans believes that while the team will eventually get used to these conditions deeper into the tournament, it’s important the coaching staff remains on its toes and uses small innovative tactics like quick changeovers to avoid keeping a player on the pitch for long duration and risk fatigue.

“If you saw some matches, you can notice that the (intensity) level is going down during the game because of the fatigue of the players,” said Oltmans, talking to Firstpost on Saturday. “So, you need to interchange a bit quicker according to me.

“I think during the tournament you will see that players are getting more and more used to these circumstances, and it will not affect the game as much as it is doing now in the beginning. The only ones who are used to it are the Malaysians; this is Malaysia weather,” he further said.

The Japan team’s support staff is also in an innovative mode to guard against the threat of injuries in such conditions, although the players fortunately came to India after playing in similar humid conditions during their domestic championship.

They have cut down on their pre-match warm-up routines.

“To counter heat, we have minimised our warm-up times before matches and are using measures like ice towels and ice baths. Also, we are taking a lot of supplements and vitamins to avoid cramps,” said Japan coach, Olga Urmanova, with the help of a translator.

It did drizzle for a while in the dying stages of the second match on Saturday between Malaysia and South Korea, but the problem with scanty rainfall is that it causes heat emanation from the surface, leading to more humidity.

The only choice here is to brace up.