The Hindu: Harendra — a self-proclaimed ‘obsessive’ hockey coach

By Uthra Ganesan

2005, when India missed out on a medal, has remained a thorn in his side

The Junior World Cup has been a catharsis for coach Harendra Singh. In charge when the Indian team, considered favourite for the title, missed out on a medal in 2005, the ‘non-Olympian’ coach in Indian hockey has been on a mission. On December 18, 2016, he completed it.

Through this entire period, Harendra Singh has sustained himself on pagalpan and junoon (madness and obsession). Indeed, the success of his team has largely been a result of his single-minded devotion and dedication to the sport for the past 18 years. “September 13, 1998 was the day I took to coaching,” he says.

Harendra has always been emotional, and unapologetic about it. His caller tune begins with, aasan hai likhna watan ke liye, kabhi seekho mitna watan ke liye (it’s easy to write about the nation, learn to die for the nation). There is never a hello at the other end, it’s always Jai Hind .

Support on the home front

“This is my obsession, my madness. I have no house of my own. Whatever I have earned, approximately Rs. 39 lakh, every penny has been spent on coaching equipment, it’s all because of my pagalpan . Credit goes to my wife Samiksha — she sacrificed a lot, I didn’t know she even sold her jewellery to run the house. My family sacrificed. I am lucky to have a wife like this and a friend like Dhanraj, who got me into coaching,” Harendra says.

But 2005 remained a thorn through it all. “I don’t want to go into the details of whatever happened in 2005 because of umpiring. I still believe wo medal mera tha (that medal was mine).

“Ric Charlesworth is the guru of hockey coaching, no one is bigger than him. His son Jonathan was playing for Australia then. When I was crying after losing the semis to Australia, he came and said, ‘Harry don’t cry, the FIH has robbed you of the World Cup’.

“I was abused so much when we came back. I had insisted on picking the players I wanted. I kept waiting for Sardar Singh for one week, he was in the US but did not come. I was called a traitor of the country.

“It was written that if Indian hockey has to be saved then Harendra has to be removed. It was a big story printed on the front page of a big newspaper and I want to salute the person who wrote it because that day, my wife cried for the first time and said, you don’t have to go into hockey again unless you can come back a champion,” he says, breaking down.

“That day I decided I had to be an FIH coach and joined 14 courses with my own money. That day I became fanatic that I was no Olympian but I will create Olympians. I was an average player but better than many who went for the 1996 Olympics.

“I have produced 20-25 Olympians so far. But tab ki ek khalish (hurt) aaj tak thi , because my World Cup was in front of me and I could not get it. I had to wait for 10 years but I finally got it, there is only relief,” he adds.