Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 1 (ANI): Indian hockey player Manpreet Singh defended the team's new jersey, saying the decision to wear the saffron/orange kit was taken collectively by the players and team management, not due to any external influence.

He explained that the change was made to avoid a visual clash with the blue turf and blue socks, while adding that the colour, being part of the national flag, was seen as a source of motivation for the team.

'...If you look back, we wore yellow jerseys during the 2014 World Cup and also at the Commonwealth Games. It wasn't a huge issue; the team management and all the players made a collective decision. Whatever political narrative might be circulating is a separate matter, but the decision didn't come from the outside... Since the turf is blue and the socks are blue, it has an impact. So we wanted to avoid that kind of visual clash. That's why we changed the colour... Since the colour is a part of our national flag, the idea was that wearing saffron/orange would be good for us and provide motivation to perform even better,' Manpreet told ANI.

The new jerseys were launched ahead of the FIH Men's and Women's Hockey World Cups, which are scheduled to begin on August 14 and 15, respectively, in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The change in jersey colour has sparked controversy, with former India captain and Olympian Viren Rasquinha also questioning the decision, and the matter also attracted reactions from some leading politicians of the country, mostly in criticism of the colour.

Hockey India also issued a statement explaining that the decision to change the national team's jersey colour was based on recommendations from the support staff and players, following detailed consultations.

'We wish to inform you that the decision to change the uniform colour was based on support staff & players' recommendations and detailed consultations with them. The primary consideration was technical. It was observed that the blue playing uniform tended to blend/merge with the blue synthetic playing surface, which is now the standard colour of international hockey pitches. This visual similarity affected on-field clarity and visibility for the players,' the statement read. (ANI)