Indian Hockey Coach Michael Nobbs decides not to interfere in federation’s issues
Indian hockey has recently been trapped in a series of controversies. However, Chief Coach Michael Nobbs has decided not to interfere in the administrative issues of the federation.
Since it is an initiatory period of newly appointed coach, thus he is not willing to put himself in the crises particularly the matters related to players. Following the similar guidelines, he preferred to stay away from the recent violation of five players
who skipped the training camp in order to participate in the promotional event of World Series Hockey (WSH).
The Disciplinary Committee of Hockey India (HI) not only issued show-cause notices to the five players but also suspended them for taking part in second phase of the training camp. The committee at the same time summoned all the five players including Adrian
D’Souza, Sardara Singh, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa and Prabhjot Singh to seek their explanations of the issue.
Michael Nobbs while speaking to the media stated that they had no information regarding current happenings. He left the matter on the federation and Pargat Singh, the Chairman of the HI Disciplinary Committee. “I have got no idea on what they are going to
do. It is up to Pargat Singh and Hockey India. I guess we will know in a week’s time.”
The Chief Coach was of the opinion that the players were fixing their concentration with the game, as they did not have enough time for getting preparations of the forthcoming mega events.
Australia-based Michael Nobbs has resumed duties after a tiny break. He is completing the paper work and soon will take the charge of Indian hockey camp underway in their second phase from August 8, 2011.
A total of 48 players have been picked up for the second phase of the training camp of which only 18 will get the place in the final line-up scheduled to play the first version of the Asian Champions Trophy. Furthermore 12 players will be selected as a reserved
squad while remaining 18 will be inducted in the development squad.
He was of the view that they will put every effort to work on their prescribed outlines. The main areas of focus will be attack, defence and penalty conversion. On the other hand the blend of fitness and skills is also need of the hour, he added.
Commenting on the selection procedures, the coach said that the camp would play vital role in execution of their plans. He said, “The Asian Champions Trophy selection trials would be important in two ways. Not only will the squad for the China trip be picked,
but it will also give me a chance to pick 30 players who would play an important role in my scheme of things. We need to have adequate back-up for every player and every position.”
Michael Nobbs informed that they urgently required new youngsters into the development squad, as they wanted to prepare a back-up line ahead of the London Olympics. To a query, the trainer was of the opinion that he could not comment at this point about
performance of the players. He stated that the Asian Champions Trophy will be a key tournament to evaluate the worth of some of the players. If they succeed to impress the Asian teams, they will be in the right way otherwise they would have to change their
plans, he concluded.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: