Dhanraj ready to coach India
A STAFF REPORTER
“If I get an offer, I am ready for the job. I have 20 years of experience and know Indian hockey like the back of hand,” the former India captain said, here, on Friday.
In town as an Air India player for the ongoing Beighton Cup, Dhanraj said India should not renew head coach Jose Brasa’s contract. “Under Brasa, we went from bad to worse.
His contract should not be renewed,” Dhanraj stated.
The former India player felt Ric Charlesworth was the best foreign coach India had and it was a blunder to let him go. “We should have continued training under his guidance.
“The work he has done with the Australian team is simple outstanding. We can see how good the Australian team is right now under his coaching,” he said.
The 42-year-old, who did not play Friday’s match against South Central Railway due to a back problem, said the officials should appoint an Indian as a coach.
“If we don’t get Charlesworth, then an Indian should be made coach of the national team. There are many good Indian coaches. However, we have this mindset that only foreign coaches are good. That’s not true. Also, the Indian coach should be paid at par with the foreign coaches, which is not done. Now, this disparity is not good for Indian hockey,” Dhanraj said.
He said that the World Cup, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games debacles were a bad patch for India and it was time to start afresh.
“There should not be any politics in the game. Too much of politics has really harmed Indian hockey. We have to qualify for the 2012 London Games and for that, we have start rebuilding now,” he said.
Dhanraj refused to believe that Malaysia’s win over India was a fluke at Guangzhou. “They were the deserving winners. They capitalised on India’s silly tactical mistakes,” he claimed.
Dhanraj also claimed that there was no dearth of talent in Indian hockey.
“If I am made coach, I will travel to the extreme corners of rural India to tap into raw talent. I will make sure that I travel for six months. Believe me when I tell you that there are extremely talented players in the rural India,” he said before signing off.