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The Paul van Ass saga has put Indian hockey in a ‘crisis like situation’ with the 2016 Rio Olympics just a year away. The on-pitch face-off between Narender Batra and the Dutchman after the India-Malaysia game in Belgium hasn’t gone down well with all and sundry as the general line of thinking was that the interests of Indian hockey was compromised in the ego tussle between the two parties. Former Indian captain Viren Rasquinha believes such frequent changing of coaches does not augur well for Indian hockey.
“We have had five coaches in the last five years, which is not at all good for the stability of the national side and also it makes it tougher for the players to adjust,” he said. “We were the first team to qualify for the Rio Olympics as in earlier years we had to play in the Olympic qualifiers to make it to the Olympics and the way things are going I think we are frittering away the advantage of qualifying early and kickstarting our Olympic preparations.”
Hockey India President Narender Batra has been facing stinging criticism for not doing enough to ensure foreign coaches are given the desired opportunity to deliver. Viren says Batra’s administrative skills cannot be questioned though Hockey India must take proper care of foreign coaches.
“I think Batra has panned out to be a good administrator for Indian hockey. He brought money into Indian hockey through the Hockey India League and has also improved the facilities for players. The kind of facilities and support staff men and women teams gets these days are something unthinkable of during our playing days. However, I do agree that foreign coaches needed to be treated with care,” Viren continued.
Viren points out his choice of coach
On the road ahead, the former Indian midfielder asserts that Roelant Oltmans is the best choice to coach the national side till the Rio Olympics if Hockey India is keen to rope in a foreign coach. He opined, “I don’t know what plans they have. If they want a foreign coach, Roelant Oltmans should be the ideal choice – he knows the Indian players inside out and has been here for a long while now; let’s remember he is a world-class coach who done well as a stop-gap coach earlier also.”
Viren listed out four Indians, who can be considered if HI is looking for a desi coach. He revealed his choices, “Harendra Singh is the best Indian coach we have – he knows what’s going in modern hockey and will be handy. Jagbir Singh is another good option – he again knows the Indian players well and is abreast of modern hockey. Cedric D’Souza is another option – one who is well tuned to modern hockey and then my fourth option will be CR Kumar, who has been handling the women’s team besides working with the men’s team long back.”
Viren touches a pertinent point when he says the whole process of hiring a foreign coach must be done in a meticulous manner. “If we hire a foreign coach we must ensure he is well versed with the modern coaching methods, knows the Indian players well, knows the Indian culture and mindset – basically he has to be an effective coach,” expressed the former Indian team captain.
The former international , who is now based in Mumbai, agrees that a proper reporting structure must be put in place for the head coach. “At the moment we don’t know who the head coach reports to – whether to Hockey India, SAI or the Sports Ministry. There should be transparency in the reporting structure of the head coach and more clarity should be there about the reasons why he is chosen coupled with a proper appraisal of his performance,” he signed off.
There will be more clarity after 24th July, when the governing body of Indian hockey is scheduled to hold a meeting.
