Bhubaneswar: As a player, Shin Seok-kyu had given India a run for victory on the hockey battlefield; years later as a coach he longs to do the same but things are different now. South Korea failed to make a cut for the Hockey World League Finals which starts from December 1 and the Hockey World Cup next year. But the team wants to come up and is working hard to regroup, reassess and reassert. His team comprising 20 players are in Bhubaneswar to sweat out hard for the next year Jakarta Asian Games.

In an exclusive chat with stick2hockey, the coach spoke on what is going wrong with Asian hockey.

“It is a sad state of affairs for Asia Hockey. When I used to play Sohail Abbas from Pakistan would often tell me that we as Asians should feel proud of our skills and take it at par with the world level. Perhaps, only after becoming the coach of the Korea national team, I realised why he directed this statement to me,” Shin Seok-kyu says.

“It is indeed sad that none of the Asian teams are participating in the Hockey World League Finals. Though India will be playing, it is only because they are the host country. Whichever stage you see, Asia hockey is nowhere to be seen – be it Olympics or any big tournament. It is sad.”
Though Shin believes India is currently the stronger team among the Asian lot, much has still to be done to be at par with the European teams.

“When I used to play, India was fairly good in individual game. Now the individual tactics is same, but as a team, they have improved. They are very successful inside the D. During the Asia Cup, we had a tough time thinking how to beat India. We were looking when they would make mistakes, giving us an advantage. But we did manage to score against them in the dying minutes,” Shin said.

The coach, who is known for his unique coaching style, believes, the trick to come at par with the European nations will only be possible if an Asian Academy opens up.

“An academy exclusively for Asian teams is the solution. There needs to be an academy where the coaches need to communicate with one another on the tactics and pass on the training methods to each other. Once that happens, we would come at par with the European countries in ten-year time.”