IOA planning ‘walk-in interviews’ to appoint national coach

KOLKATA: INDIAN hockey administration, currently overseen by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), is set to take a leaf out of the Indian cricket board when it comes to scouting for a new coach for the national team.

Closely modelling on the way the BCCI conducts walk-in interviews before selecting a national coach, Indian hockey too will see prospective candidates for the top job from now go through a similar grind instead of hockey administrators appointing a national coach on whim like it has been over the years.

The IOA’s decision to make coaching candidates undergo walk-in interviews and discussion sessions from now on also brings back recent memories of the way in which football coach Bob Houghton was recruited by the national football body.

The IOA, which is planning to try out the new coach-recruitment system through a separate ad hoc committee, was compelled to take this decision after its bitter-sweet experience with the legendary Aussie coach Ric Charlsworth, who was given charge of the senior national hockey team.

Confirming the new plan, the IOA’s ad hoc committee joint-secretary Aslam Khan told The Indian Express today that he has doubts about whether Charlsworth will continue working with the senior national team in the long run. The Aussie is expected to return to India on July 26 to take charge of the senior side.

Khan said: “Charlsworth had a contract with the Sports Authority of India (SAI). Following a request from the IOA, he agreed to work with the senior national team and he also went to Malaysia with the national side for the Azlan Shah Cup. But this time, he has resigned from SAI. He will return to India, but I am not sure whether he will work with Indian hockey for a long time.”

Asked about the IOA’s grand plans of hunting a new coach by conducting walkin interviews and newer techniques, Khan said: “Yes, there is an option to find out a quality and experienced coach for the Indian team, but that has not yet been finalised. We will sit together with the national selectors after the ongoing junior international championship in Hyderabad gets over, and then we will chalk out a roadmap for the future of Indian hockey as we don’t have any international tournament coming up till 2010.”

The coach-recruitment issue apart, the IOA’s ad hoc committee is planning to raise the standard of hockey in the country by reviving the two major tournaments – the Senior National Championship and the All India School Championship. In fact, the country’s top players will be asked to take part in the national championship.

“Most of the country’s star players don’t take part in national championships nowadays. They also have to prove their consistency in the domestic circuit so that they can get automatically selected for the national team. So, discussions are on to make it mandatory for ‘star’ players to participate in the senior national championship,” a national selector told this daily.

The national meet will take place sometime in December this year in Pune.

The IOA’s ad hoc committee joint-secretary Khan also informed the committee will soon have discussions with Indian hockey’s sponsor Sahara. “The company has a contract with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). But since the IHF is banned now, we want to sit with the corporate house.”