India stand a great chance of reaching Olympic semi-finals, says former coach Cedric D'Souza

Cedric D’Souza believes coaches should be given a longer run with the Indian national team

Former India and Delhi Waveriders coach Cedric D’Souza was part of the panel which discussed India’s surge as a sporting nation at the CII & MoYAS conducted conference here at the capital yesterday. Recently appointed as gaffer of the Austrian national team, SportsKeeda caught with him and in a freewheeling chat he opened up about the current state of Indian Hockey and his latest assignment amongst other things.

Here are the excerpts from our conversation:

Congratulations on your latest assignment, tell us a little about how it came along?

Thanks a ton. You see, I had been working with the IHL franchise from Delhi before this and when the Austria offer came along, I decided to give it a shot. They aren’t too affluent when it comes to Hockey but it provides me with an opportunity to work with a dedicated lot and that personally is a reason good enough for me to take the leap.

You have had a couple of stints with the Indian national team too, how was that experience like?

It was good; I, like anyone else, was driven to help our national team scale greater heights. The only bit that I wasn’t in alignment with was how the tenure of coaches – foreigners and Indians alike were periodically cut short by decisions which were knee-jerk to say the least.

That’s something that I would perhaps like to see changing here. There should be a pre-defined contract which allows coaches to work with a squad for a prolonged period - they shouldn’t be just asked to leave if the team fails to perform at one event.

So you feel Paul van Ass should have been given a longer run? Or for that matter Roelant Oltmans should be allowed to continue till the Olympics at least?

Obviously! It goes without saying that these two or anyone for that matter should be a given a longer run. Our team has actually been doing really well, the 4th place finish in the Hockey World League stands testament to the same. That with 5 first-team players is incredible to say the least. The team is indeed gelling well and it’s high time our federation acknowledges that and let whosoever the coach is to persist with the core group till at least Rio.

Finally, since you mentioned, how would you rate India’s chances at the Olympics in 2016?

If recent performances are any indication, I think we stand a really good chance of reaching the semis at least, post that it’s all about how you play on that given day. Fortune and luck plays a massive part too and I am hoping with a little bit of that, we should indeed return with a medal next year.