The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Jagbir to join team as coach

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

Jagbir to join team as coach

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 6. Jagbir Singh will assist the Indian hockey team in the final phase of its Olympics preparation. Making the announcement here on Tuesday, the Indian Hockey Federation president K.P.S. Gill said the goalkeeping coach Mir Ranjan Negi will be replaced by Frank Leictre, a Dutch Olympian, currently attached to the junior Holland team.

Jagbir, who represented India at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, will assist Rajinder Singh while Harendra Singh will work with the juniors keeping in mind the forthcoming World Cup. The IHF has also roped in former Olympian and presently Sports Authority of India Executive Director (TEAMS Wing) M.P. Ganesh to oversee the week-long training camp in Germany from July 10. Jagbir's tenure will be till the World Cup next year.

The team will now be strengthened by the inclusion of Sandeep Michael, Adam Sinclair and Harpal Singh among the probables in place of Sunil Yadav, Inderjit Singh and Hari Prasad.

Commenting on Jagbir's appointment, Mr. Gill clarified that "it is not a vote of no confidence against Rajindar. He has been a doing good job.''

Reflecting on the four-nation tournament where India put up a miserable display, Mr. Gill said "both the goalkeepers (Devesh Chauhan and Adrian D'Souza) were below par but they have sufficient time to come up to their previous level. There was a certain degree of dismay at the performance of the team but I didn't expect better results than what we got. Our drag pushers (Sandeep Singh and Jatinderpal Singh) too couldn't get going.''

On the reportedly shady reputation of the two German experts contracted by the IHF, Oliver Kurtz and Gerhard Rach, Mr. Gill said "it is immaterial now and we are retaining them.'' Kurtz had tested positive for cocaine and was banned from the sport while Rach was convicted for tax evasion. These two coaches will soon visit India and hold a seminar for coaches.

Jagbir, speaking about his role, said ``I will help in the tactical preparation of the team. I think we have been holding on to the ball too long. Some areas need to be improved upon and we have time to sort out the problems.''

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