Indian Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill opposes hiring of foreign coaches for Indian team
Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief KPS Gill has said that his decision to hire a foreign coach for the national team was a mistake.
"Foreign coaches do not suit us,” said Gill. “It was a wrong decision. Instead of concentrating on performance they unnecessarily get involved in administrative matters and always keep complaining."
The Indian national hockey team is currently without a coach, after Harendra Singh resigned from the position following India’s 3-4 defeat to Malaysia in the semi-finals of the 2010 Asian Games. The Sports Association of India
(SAI) and Hockey India are still looking for a replacement, and have not yet decided whether they should choose a national or international coach for the team.
Gill, however, is personally convinced that the new coach should be of the home-grown variety, and has named Cedric D’Souza, MK Kaushik, Joachim Carvalho and Vasudevan Baskaran as examples of talented Indian coaches.
The Indian hockey team has so far had three foreign coaches in its history, all of then brought in by Gill. First was German Gerhard Peter Rach, who was hired in 2004 but resigned within five months due to performance issues and
controversies arising over his police record. Next was Ric Charlesworth from Australia, who also resigned shortly after his appointment, due to differences with the administration over his salary and bureaucratic red tape. The third coach was Spaniard Jose
Brasa, who was appointed in June 2009 and always seemed to be at daggers drawn with the SAI and Hockey India. His contract expired last month after the Asian Games and was not renewed.
Gill has also stressed the need for the tenure of the national coach to be fixed at a minimum of four years. "New coach should be given the contract for four years ideally from Olympic to Olympic to develop a team," he added
He had further suggestions regarding the hockey team itself, opining that a few of the players on the squad needed to be retired, and should even have been let go before the Asian Games this year.
Meanwhile, Gill says that the issue of Hockey India’s recognition is still pending, as the administration awaits a call from the Ministry of Sports. In October, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the IHF, Hockey India and Indian
Olympics Association to meet with the Ministry of Sports in order to hold a dialogue to resolve the dispute over whether Hockey India should replace the IHF as the governing body for hockey in India.
"It seems that Government is very busy with the inquiry of CWG [Commonwealth Games] related scams. We had written to the ministry also but did not get satisfactory reply. The matter can be solved in half an hour and this delay
is unnecessary. We are waiting for next hearing in January 2011," said Gill.
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