Sport - Hockey

Search for coach continues

By S. Thyagarajan

Chennai April 4. Even as the dust settles down after the disastrous World Cup campaign in Kuala Lumpur in February-March, the Indian Hockey Federation is working out the modalities to reconstruct the national squad for the events ahead. High on the list are the Champions Trophy in Cologne (Germany) and the Asian Games at Pusan where India has to defend the gold.

The first step in this exercise is likely to begin in the second or third week of this month. But the question of the chief coach continues to be debated. While many names are floating in discussions, the IHF does not appear to have decided on anyone. There are reports that C.R.Kumar, who handled the team after the exit of Cedric D'Souza during the World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, will not be available for a year on account of his reported contract with a state unit in Malaysia.

As the choice is getting narrowed, the feeling that Rajinder Singh, who coached the Indian juniors in the Junior World Cup at Hobart may be asked to take over. Sources indicate that several names were considered and these include the former Olympian and captain, M.M. Somaiya, at least in the role of the manager. Not long ago, Somaiya performed this part during the India-Pakistan Test series with V.Baskaran as coach. The IHF is also reported to have received feelers even from a few former coaches expressing a desire to join the national squad. But the preference seems to be on a new team of officials for the senior squad.

What must be stressed here that the IHF cannot procrastinate, given the heavy schedule ahead this year. There is a strong case to shuffle the combination that figured at Kuala Lumpur. The thinking is to get back the three junior players, Gagan Ajit Singh, Bimal Lakra and Vikram Pillay. Pressure is also building up to give a chance again to the full back Dinesh Nayak.

The assumption, in the higher echelons of hockey administration, is that the talent base is excellent and can be shaped into a strong force if some adjustments are made. A clear picture will emerge in a fortnight after the top grade tournament to be played at Bangalore from April 7.

Meanwhile, the IHF has accepted the invitation to take part in the twin four-nation tournaments at Adelaide and Melbourne from May 30 to June 9. Apart from the host, Australia, the silver medallist in the recent World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, Korea, a semi-finalist, and Malaysia are the other contenders. The three Asian countries view the tournaments as the first step in their preparations for the Asian Games at Pusan.

The following are the fixtures: Adelaide: May 30: Australia v India; Korea v Malaysia; June 1: Australia v Korea; India v Malaysia; June 2: Korea v India; Australia v Malaysia; At Melbourne: June 5: India v Malaysia; Australia v Korea; 6: Australia v Malaysia; India v Korea; June 8: Korea v Malaysia; Australia v India. June 9: final and third and fourth place matches.

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