BHUBANESWAR: IF word from Netherlands is anything to go by, the Dutch team are already looking at alternate options when they travel for next year’s hockey World Cup. Three of their players were hit by a mystery illness during the Hockey World League Final last week. That has prompted coach Max Caldas to look into the possibility of renting two large houses for the event.
In an interview with hockey.nl, a Dutch hockey website, after they finished seventh in the eight-team event, Caldas said that the team had looked at various options, as far as food and housing were concerned.
“We have looked at other locations,” he said. “We have considered bringing our own cook next year, but the hotel doesn’t want that. We have also looked at renting two large houses.” The security team involved with the World Cup may not be too thrilled with that suggestion.
This is a continuing fallout of a number of mysterious illnesses that struck down players from various teams. Caldas, interestingly, said that all teams caught the bug.“There are sick people in every team here. There is no guarantee that you will not get sick in India.”
When the team turned towards the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for help with respect to maintaining hygiene, their doctors asked the team to keep washing hands. “The only thing the FIH doctor said about hygiene was that we had to wash our hands. Yes, we understand that ourselves.”
Apart from Netherlands, players from England, Germany and Argentina also caught this mystery bug. There were also a few reports of a few Spanish players developing fever, but Express was not been able to verify it.