New Delhi, Apr 29 The seasoned PR Sreejesh led the way as the Olympic-bound Indian hockey teams on Thursday received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines in Bengaluru.

“I got my first shot covid-19 vaccine,” Sreejesh, the men’s team number one goalkeeper who has also led the team in the past, tweeted.

He was administered the covishield vaccine.

The players are currently undergoing a training camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru.

All athletes bound for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics are supposed to be vaccinated on priority.

Recently, seven members of the Indian women’s hockey team, including captain Rani Rampal, and two support staff members tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of a training camp here.

The players and support staff were asymptomatic and were placed under observation at the SAI centre.

Besides Rampal, the others who have been infected are Savita Punia, Sharmila Devi, Rajani, Navjot Kaur, Navneet Kaur and Sushila.

The two support staff members who have tested positive are video analyst Amrutaprakash and scientific advisor Wayne Lombard.

The men’s national team this year made successful tours of Europe and Argentina, where they dominated the reigning Olympic champions during their Pro League matches as well as the practice games.

The women’s core group returned to the national camp last Sunday to restart the preparations for the Tokyo Games after a 10-day break.

The 25-member women’s Olympic core group underwent mandatory quarantine before the commencement of training.

In January, the team toured Argentina where it played seven matches.

During its tour of Germany in February-March, the Indian women’s team lost all its four matches against the world number three hosts. News Source : PTI