Rajinder hopes to strike gold in World Series Hockey

Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN

MUMBAI: His methods may not be scientific, he may not even be articulate, but hockey players in the late nineties and early noughties enjoyed success that no Indian team could manage after Rajinder Singh was dismissed as coach in 2004.

After seven years now, Rajinder is back as coach at a competitive level when he will shepherd the Punjab franchise in the World Series Hockey (WSH) which begins in December.

“I was never away from coaching. People feel I had disconnected from hockey because I am training youngsters at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres. But when WSH offered me the job, I gladly took it,” Rajinder said on the sidelines of a WSH media function.

The first chapter of Rajinder’s success story was scripted when he won the sub-junior Asia Cup in 2000. He was then given charge of India’s junior team. The team, which had the likes of Viren Rasquinha, Gagan Ajit Singh and Prabhjot Singh among others, won the Junior World Cup in 2001 in Hobart, Australia. Rajinder then was offered the job to coach India seniors.

Rajinder didn’t only get the charge; he was given a free hand to pick a team he wanted. It was not surprising that he chose several members of his junior India squad for the national team. A young outfit, with seniors such as Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey, India went on to win the Asia Cup, Afro-Asian Games and two back to back four-nation tourneys in Germany and Australia.

“The boys made a smooth transition to the senior team. The fact that there were gifted seniors also helped a great deal. That period in Indian hockey was really worth talking about,” Rajinder recalled.

But in Indian hockey, good things don’t come to an end, they are destroyed. Rajinder’s stint ended abruptly in 2004 after he didn’t see eye to eye with some Indian Hockey Federation ( IHF) officials.

“His man-management skills were fantastic,” recalled Rasquinha. “He was one of the few coaches who commanded respect. He always backed players,” he added.

Rajinder is perhaps backing his man-management skills while coaching the Punjab outfit in the WSH. For, there are not only new and young Indian players that he will have to deal with, there are some foreign stars too.

“It is not going to be easy, but I’ll manage,” Rajinder said.