Hockey India’s review committee meeting to be held on May 31: Hockey Update
After the unexpected failure, which the Indian men’s hockey team faced in the 2011 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, Hockey India (HI) has summoned a performance review meeting on May 31.
The meeting will be held to address the factors that led to the two-title defenders to end up sixth in the seven-nation tournament.
Narinder Batra, HI’s Secretary General, informed that the committee, which is led by Pargat Singh will meet the team’s captain Arjun Halappa, the team’s coach Harendra Singh and other members of the support staff on account of critically justifying the team’s performance.
Batra added that the team performed off the mark in an unexpected way and continued, “We will take the necessary action after thoroughly analysing the performance. If there is a need to change anything, we will not hesitate in doing so."
He warned that strict actions will be taken over the person found guilty on the misconduct of his duties, leading in a below par performance of the team.
According to the HI chief, "Nobody is above the game. The prestige is of the country and not of any individual. Every individual is responsible."
India, being the joint champion of the last year’s Azlan Cup edition, had shown a weak performance consistently. They opened with a 2-3 loss from South Korea that followed two wins against Great Britain by 3-1 and the host team Malaysia 5-2.
The only commendable display of abilities was found in the match against the World Number One, Australia, when they closed the match with a tiring draw at 1-1.
However, the euphoria lasted no long when their performance graph dropped with two defeats against Pakistan by 1-3 and New Zealand 3-7.
Moreover, for the fifth-sixth placing match the team lost again from South Korea by 1-2, closing their Malaysian tour with a lacklustre sixth finish.
When Batra was asked about thinking over to hire a foreign coach for the team to perform well here ahead, he replied that for the betterment of the team in terms of performance, all ideas are welcomed to be addressed.
After Jose Brasa’s end of coaching tenure at the 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, there was always a need of a foreign coach for the team. Even though they asked for a foreign coach, the government insisted to appoint the same coaching team for the Azlan Cup as in the last year’s Asian games and Commonwealth Games.
Therefore, the hockey team’s coach Harendra, who led the team in the Malaysian Cup, failed to justify his competency for the post and is expected to be removed by the review committee in the meeting ahead.
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