With the go out of Graham Reid submit the disappointing end result on the just lately concluded World Cup in Odisha, Hockey India’s (HI) number one process is to nominate the following leader trainer of the boys’s nationwide hockey workforce.
With the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games – the qualifying match for the 2024 Paris Olympics – simplest seven months away, hiring a trainer on the earliest for the Olympic bronze medalists is a concern.
The National Sports Federation (NSF) has already marketed with February 15 being the closing date of submitting packages for the vacant submit. Among a number of overseas coaches, one identify doing the rounds is former India trainer Harendra Singh.
“The Pro League and Asian Games are the 2 main occasions this yr. We are focussed at the latter as successful the development gets India an automated berth within the Paris Olympics. We have many names for dialogue and Harendra is amongst them,” a key HI functionary said on condition of anonymity. “Harendra has a proven track record with the junior team and has a good chance to train the Indian team once again.”
Harendra guided the Indian men’s junior team to victory at the 2016 Junior World Cup following which he was made coach of the senior team too, coaching them till the 2018 World Cup where India exited in the quarter-finals. He was also the coach of the 2017 Asia Cup gold medal winning Indian women’s team. Harendra was replaced by Reid in 2019.
However, the 54-year-old Harendra, who is currently the head coach of the United States of America men’s team, refused to comment but not before advocating for an Indian to coach the national men’s team as he felt that homegrown coaches have better understanding. with players.
“Look at the teams in the recent World Cup where most teams had their own coaches. A homegrown coach for India is a must as he has better understanding of every individual as our players come from different backgrounds, culture and environment,” he said.
He suggested that for technical expertise HI should appoint a high performance director. “For that job I would love to see Australian legend Ric Charlesworth once again. I have worked with him and find him the best person for this post. Where all the world’s coaches stop thinking, he begins from there. The man is a master in getting the best out of players,” he mentioned.
Harendra additionally praised former HI president Narinder Batra for giving a large fillip to Indian hockey for the reason that 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG), including that the Hockey India League (HIL) will have to be restarted because it helped Indian avid gamers acquire revel in of rubbing shoulders with most sensible Europeans. and Australians.
“Undoubtedly, Batra has taken Indian hockey the place it’s meant to be. India’s contemporary adventure mentioned with the 2010 CWG. We noticed professionalism, cash, most publicity. HIL used to be a large plus as our avid gamers were given to be told many new issues,” he added.
Harendra suggested launching a new domestic league and also the revival of state hockey leagues. “I am saddened to see the poor state of hockey leagues in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. If we have regular domestic leagues like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, we will have a huge number of players across the country. See the strong domestic structure of foreign teams as they spot talent through that setup,” he mentioned.
Terming the behavior of National Championships in all age teams simply as an ‘annual honest’, Harendra mentioned HI will have to divide the home construction into 5 zones as North, South, West, East and Central and behavior leagues as it might stay our avid gamers busy for 8-9 months a yr. The league would additionally then function a ramification device.
“Follow the trend of Ranji Trophy cricket the place all groups are supplied with most sensible coaches, physios, video analysts, masseurs, yoga academics and so on. The revival of academies may be a should as the sport has modified solely and our home coaches will have to discover ways to connect science with the sport. In India we use an outdated device and our home coaches neither wish to be told the significance of science in hockey and its correct makes use of,” mentioned Harendra.