Coronavirus outbreak has forced Indian women’s hockey team to cancel their tour of China

The deadly Coronavirus has led to the cancellation of the Indian women’s hockey team’s tour of China. The federation will now have to find another opponent for the team as a part of their preparation for the Olympics. The team was scheduled to travel to China from March 14 to 25. But the disease, which has taken more than 500 lives and infected at least 30,000, has led to the cancellation of the tour.

“We had to travel to China but that has been cancelled due to the virus. So a lot of teams are also not available to play with because they are participating in the Pro hockey league,” Indian skipper Rani Rampal told PTI.

“Hockey India and our coaches are working out whom to play,” she added.

Most of the competitive teams like Argentina, Belgium,

Australia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand and United

States are competing in the FIH Pro Hockey League.

But this should not hamper the team’s preparation for the Olympics, which is less than five months away. “For good preparation, you need to play with good teams,” Rani said.

The team’s last tour was of New Zealand which ended a day

ago, and they will now be going for a four-week training and conditioning camp

from February 16 to March 14.

Last year, the Indian women’s team qualified for the Olympics by beating USA at 2019 FIH Olympic Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar. This will be third appearance by the Indian side at the Olympics.