Now, a foreign coach for men’s hockey
By Our Correspondent
New Delhi

Sept. 26: Left red-faced after the M.K. Kaushik saga, the ad-hoc committee for Indian hockey on Friday announced that they are on the look out for a foreign coach for the men’s senior national team.

Heading into a crucial year — India will take part in the Asian Games, World Cup, and the Commonwealth Games 2010 — the foreign coach will be hired till 2010, according to ad-hoc committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi.

The committee also named Air India coach Harendra Singh as the man-in-charge for the time being. He will be preside over the national camp, to begin in the first week of October.

Said Kalmadi at a press meet here, “The ad-hoc committee has accepted the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation’s decision to retain Kaushik as the women’s coach. Hence, the committee has decided to rope in a foreign coach for the men’s team. The world body, FIH, has recommended three names and FIH coaching development committee chief Tayyab Ikram will soon visit the country with his list of coaches. The selection committee headed by Ajitpal Singh will shortlist the final candidate.”

Though Kalmadi announced that Harendra has been appointed till 2010, none of the members could elaborate on his exact role. Asked if he will be sidelined after the induction of the foreign coach, the panel members sang different tunes. Kalmadi, on his part, directed the question to chairman of selectors Ajitpal, who was non-committal on the issue. “A foreign coach is a foreign coach, he cannot be a national coach,” was Ajitpal’s initial reply.

Asked then why was there a delay in naming the national coach, the 1975 World Cup winning captain back-tracked. “It will take some time to appoint the foreign coach and we need to begin the national camp soon.

“Harendra will take over next month, and will be retained in the coaches’ panel even after a foreigner is roped in. On who will be the national coach, I have nothing to say as of now. If we find a good overseas coach, he might be appointed the head coach,” he said. Ajitpal even went as far as blaming Kaushik for the recent fiasco. In what was a clear failure on part of the selection committee members — who jumped the gun in declaring Kaushik as the men’s coach without getting permission from the women’s federation — he said, “Kaushik should have informed us of his non-availability, how is the selection committee to know of his prior engagements?”

Does that mean the chairman of selectors was not even aware that Kaushik was the coach of the women’s team, Ajitpal said, “I did not mean that.”

Having failed in their effort to hire Kaushik — the matter would have been resolved easily with proper communication — how another stop-gap arrangement will help Indian hockey out of the mess is anybody’s guess.