Players' recovery is of paramount importance: Barua

Recovery of players is one of the key factors to success in tournaments like the AFC Cup where you play every alternate day, Indian women's football team coach Anadi Barua said Thursday.

Three high-intensity matches in five days is bound to take a toll on any footballer.

"If my player is not fit, I won't get the best from her. Our physiotherapist stresses on the importance of warm-up before every training session and match. She instructs the players to do certain drills as part of recovery. We follow that strictly. There's no compromise with recovery sessions," said Barua.

India physiotherapist Dimple Maniar also stressed the importance of recuperating in time.

"For a recovery period, 24 hours is enough. But that is a luxury in the AFC Cup. We play every alternate day, which means we train the next day of the match. Hence, recovery period is minimised. It's the duty of the physiotherapist to make up for lost recovery time," said Dimple, who is on her maiden Camp with the senior team.

She continued: "Recovery is basically the preparation your body needs for the next action that is the next match. A football match of 90 minutes takes a lot out of a player. A lot of fluid is lost. Re-hydration, proper diet and rest are the basics of recovery. You need to take utmost care of all."

Ace striker Bala Devi admitted the intense gym sessions over the one-month period are finally paying off.

"I picked up a bad injury while going for an aerial ball against Bahrain in the first of the two International Friendlies. It was a sort of concussion and I felt dizzy. But the core strengthening exercises we were made to do in Pune helped me recover fast," she said.

India lost their opening AFC qualifier match to Myanmar and now face a do or die situation when they take on Chinese Taipei later Thursday.