A section of the Indian hockey team today identified the training camp held in the 'hot and humid' city of Lucknow, just prior to the start of the Champions Trophy, as one of the prime reasons behind India's lacklustre performance in the elite six-nation tournament in Amstelveen, Holland.
Several players including captain Dhanraj Pillay suffered from fever and dehydration during the camp, which was held in Lucknow from July 20 to August 9.
The team, which went into the tournament as one of the title favourites, lost four of their six matches to return wihout a medal from the competition, which concluded on Sunday.
"Though we tried our best to acclimatise to the conditions in Amstelveen going few days before the start of the tournament, it was not of much help since many of the players failed to recover completely," a senior player said at the airport after the players returned from Holland late last night.
"We also practiced hard but the humid conditons took its toll. The camp should not have been held there," he added.
"We felt very very tired after the first match itself. In the Champions Trophy we played the matches almost at a stretch, which definitely had an effect on our body," said another player.