Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar called on injured hockey player Jugraj Singh, who is recuperating at the Batra Hospital, in Delhi on Thursday.
"You will recover fast and will play in the Olympics next year," Gavaskar told Jugraj, according to a hospital source.
Jugraj, who formed the cog in the wheel of the Indian hockey team with his expert drag flicks in penalty-corners, suffered multiple fractures in a car accident in Jalandhar in August.
The Punjab defender missed last month's Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, which India won for the first time under the captaincy of Dhanraj Pillay.
Jugraj, who is undergoing intense treatment, is hoping to be fit in time for the Athens Olympics in August 2004.
Plans are afoot to move him to a hospital in California later this month for advanced therapy, hospital sources said.