IN modern Indian hockey there has been no man better than Maharaj Kishon Kaushik who returned stupendous results with very little resources at his disposal. The 1980 Moscow Olympic gold medallist has had a chequered career as a coach, but the Haryana Sports Department employee has delivered the goods, and in style at that, every time he has been called upon to perform the role of a coach.

In 1991, he was appointed as the Chief coach of the National women’s team and he shaped a couple of raw youngsters into a powerful combination that almost won the gold at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games. And he was sacked as the coach of the team.

In 1998, he was given charge of the Senior men’s team and he came back from 1998 Bangkok Asian Games with the gold medal, a feat India achieved after a gap of 32 years. And when the post-tournament analysis was done the first man to lose his job was Kaushik.

And midway through 2003 he was reappointed as coach of the women’s National team. And he has delivered the IWHF with a maiden Asia Cup triumph and an automatic place in the 2006 World Cup to boot. Hopefully sanity will remain with the top brass and he will be given a term long enough to take the Indian women to the very top of international hockey.

A man of very few words, Kaushik is renowned for his man management skills. A firm believer in Asian ‘aggressive’ style of hockey, Kaushik’s greatest asset has been his ability to motivate his wards to give their best, braving many adversities. Among other adversities, Kaushik’s wards have faced, time and again, is their lack of experience. And it’s in this context that Kaushik’s inter-personal skills to keep the his flock together come to fore.

Recalls KSHA secretary Kannan Krishnamurthy, who as an umpire at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games was an eyewitness to Kaushik’s coaching methods: “As a coach, Kaushik was an extremely dedicated man. He knew the limitations of the team and worked on building on its strength. He never cribbed about any shortcomings. Instead he always concentrated on utilising the resources at his disposal.”

Playing to one’s own strength, without bothering about the deficiencies, has been Kaushik’s hallmark right through his life. “I can cry, crib and complain about a lot of things. But if I have to overcome the shortcomings the only way is to work hard on my strengths and not compaining. I try and adapt the same approach towards my coaching also,” the former Tata star forward had said on taking over as the National women’s coach.

And with a team that was without erstwhile star performers Sita Gussain and Pritam Rani Siwach, Indian eves were not even given the underdogs status at the Afro-Asian Games. Kaushik’s reply to a scribe’s question on the eve of the tournament summed his attitude to the tournament and, to a large extent, to life. “I have told the girls to play to their best. If the opponents are better than us, let them beat us. We won’t lose a match.” Lose a match Indian women did, to South Africa in the league stage, but in the overall analysis of the tournament, that pep talk went a long way in steering the side to the gold medal.

Similar doubts had been expressed when he took the Bangkok Asian Games and similar questions had been raised when he landed in New Delhi for this Asia Cup. And on both occasions, Kaushik answered the questions and silenced the doubts in the only way he can.

Using silent words and solid performance. Indian women’s hockey can’t have found a more efficient coach.

Courtesy: Vijay Times