The tea break is out, and so are the heavy curries and generous helpings of rice.
The familiar post-meal sluggishness is now a thing of the past as the Indian men’s hockey team has acquired a taste for the salad bar. Hummus, avocado, grilled meats, hung-curd desserts and an assortment of milkshakes are also on the menu. Even hydration is now meticulously planned, with players told when and how much to drink, and 50 litres of isotonic lime water prepared on particularly demanding training days.
For a team that has spent the last decade transforming itself physically, tactically and technically, the latest change is happening at the dining table.
After winning Asian Games gold last month and lifting the Asian Champions Trophy on Thursday, India are now turning their attention to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where they will chase a third successive Olympic medal.
The journey from a team that struggled to match the physical demands of elite hockey to one that can compete with the best has involved several interventions. Nutrition is the latest, and perhaps one of the last missing pieces, according to coach Craig Fulton.
Red session (lunch and dinner)
Carbs: 100-150 grams
Protein: 40 grams
Red days are heavy workload days, and along with salad and protein, there is additional rice, dal and other carbohydrate options.
“I don’t think we have done it (diet) properly (in the past),” Fulton tells The Indian Express. “I think everyone now has bought into what the nutritional benefits are. It’s not a magic wand. It’s just the consistency of doing it not just at SAI (during the training camp) but also at home.”
Since May, nutritionist Mihira Khopkar has been working with the team, introducing a structured fuelling programme that is as much about changing habits as changing menus. The idea is to ensure that the work done on the training pitch is not undone during mealtime.
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Orange session (lunch and dinner)
Carbs: 50-100 grams
Protein: 40 grams
Orange sessions are moderate, and the meal plate is balanced accordingly, with a little more pasta and potatoes.
“Your grit, your determination, pieces like training, recovery can help you, of course. But if you don’t put the right fuel in, how fast can you go? How far can you go?” says Khopkar, who was the Indian contingent’s nutritionist at the Paris Olympics. “Nutrition is like a silent intervention but an extremely powerful intervention.”
The first change was to bring the kitchen into the team’s training programme. At the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Bengaluru centre, the food was already good, Khopkar says, but it wasn’t customised to the demands of the players’ training schedules. Now, every Sunday, she shares a weekly menu with the chef, matching the food to the intensity of the sessions ahead.
The team’s training days are colour-coded. Red is the highest-load day, usually involving match-like situations. Orange is a relatively lighter day, while green days are reserved for sessions such as penalty-corner practice and gym work. The plates follow the same colour scheme, with carbohydrate intake increasing alongside the training load.
Green session (lunch and dinner)
Carbs: 50-60 grams
Protein: 40-50 grams
Green session is a relatively light training day. Meal includes raw, steamed and stir-fried vegetables, hummus, avocado or guacamole, nuts and seeds.
A green plate is high in protein and lower in carbohydrates. It comes with raw, steamed and stir-fried vegetables, hummus, avocado or guacamole, nuts and seeds. Protein options range from grilled chicken and fish to lamb chops and prawns. The cooking is deliberately uncomplicated, with little oil, basic seasoning, garlic and herbs. The heavy curries and generous masalas have disappeared.
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“We kept some rice and tortillas and some noodles for them to make whatever they want. Every day they can have whatever they want. But the ingredients are clean,” Khopkar says. “There are no curries, there is nothing heavy.”
Orange days bring a little more pasta and potatoes, while red days have additional rice, dal and other carbohydrate options.
Khopkar studied the players’ tracking data from Catapult, the monitoring device, to calculate their energy expenditure across the three types of training days before working out their calorie requirements.
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Upgrade in veg options
Even the vegetarian options have received an upgrade. With only three vegetarians in the squad that travelled for the European tour and the World Cup, the challenge was to provide alternatives to the familiar paneer-heavy diet. There is grilled paneer, yes, but also a dessert made with hung curd and mango. On some days, a milkshake gets an extra dose of skimmed milk powder, taking its protein content to around 10 grams per glass.
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Men’s hockey team nutritionist Mihira Khopkar conducts a hydration test on goalkeeper Mohith HS before a training session at the Sports Authority of India Bengaluru centre.
“Not every day you can do paneer,” Khopkar says. “So it’s either grilled paneer, or if they don’t feel like having it, then they do the shake. And they have the yogurt.”
Eating right, Khopkar believes, is as much about keeping players available as improving their performance. “A healthy player means that you have reduced risk of injuries. It means that your immunity is fine. You have reduced risk of sickness. So that means that you have more playing days, more training days,” she says.
The hydration programme follows the same principle of matching intake to training demands. On red days, the kitchen prepares around 50 litres of isotonic lime water. Morning recovery drinks could be watermelon or pineapple juice, while the evening menu rotates among milkshakes prepared with mango and dates, dry fruits, banana and chocolate, and avocado. There is no added sugar.
The emphasis is on more than just preventing cramps or fatigue. Dehydration can also affect concentration and decision-making — crucial in a sport where players have to process information in fractions of a second.
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“If you are losing a lot of sweat and your heart rate is increasing, you get tired earlier in the day, which you don’t want,” Khopkar explains. “If you are dehydrated, with more than two per cent loss of water as body weight, automatically there are not enough fluids coming to the brain. So, your decision-making skills start blacking out.”
Vice-captain Hardik Singh says the sessions with Khopkar made him realise he needed to add more protein to what was previously a carbohydrate-heavy diet. “Since we run a lot, we need carbs. But for me, carbs were overfuelling. So, I needed to eat more protein and then consume carbs,” Singh says. “These small details can help you win and take you further.”
