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Paddy Upton, the South African-born specialist coach, who is 56 years of age, has been a part of various professional players and teams across sports at the franchise and international level over the years. Currently, he is a part of the Indian men’s hockey team as their mental conditioning coach during their ongoing Asia Cup campaign in Rajgir, Bihar, where they find themselves a step away from reaching the final in front of their home fans.
On the sidelines of the Asia Cup men’s hockey tournament at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium, Paddy Upton gave an exclusive interview to India Today, where he talked about his current role with the Indian side and much more. When asked about which one out of the hockey or cricket team from India is his favourite, since he has worked with both of them, and the South African said that there is no such comparison in his mind.
“You can't even compare the two teams. I wouldn't even begin to compare them. It's just a completely different sport. What I'd love to do is bring the Indian cricket team to come and do a half training session with the hockey team, and I think you'll see the cricket team will all be lying on the floor,” said Paddy Upton about the insane fitness levels of the Indian hockey players, which will dwarf anything that the cricket players of the same country do.
These guys are 18 Virat Kohli's from a fitness perspective, where in the cricket team there's only 1 Virat Kohli: Paddy Upton
The 56-year-old gave a unique take on the difference in fitness between the Indian cricket and hockey players while stating that only Virat Kohli from the cricket team could come close to the hockey counterparts. He remarked, “The only person who will last more than half a training session would be Virat Kohli, I think. So that's the one massive difference that I noticed.”
“These guys are 18 Virat Kohli's from a fitness perspective, where in the cricket team there's only 1 Virat Kohli from a fitness perspective,” concluded the South African on the comparison between Indian hockey and cricket players.
