Indian men's hockey team to skip opening ceremony due to non-fitting jerseys
Reports suggest that the kit that was handed to the players has not fit most of them, and they are set to skip the opening ceremony in Rio on Saturday. The Hockey India has, however, claimed that the players are just being guarded against the strenuous ceremony ahead of their match against Ireland.
"We have a match tomorrow, so we don't want to drain the players since the ceremony will go on for long," Hockey India President Narinder Batra told PTI.
However, according to PTI, the actual reason behind the men's hockey team's absence is that the kit that was provided to them by Hockey India is not fitting them. The men will be gunning for India's first medal in hockey since 1980,
"The kit that was handed to the players has not fit most of them. The players didn't have the time to check the fittings since they reached Rio quite late and were given the kit on the day they started their trip," a source told PTI.