Search on for women’s coach

The hunt for a new national women’s coach has attracted a number of former players to apply for the post which fell vacant following M. K. Kaushik’s resignation because of a charge of alleged sexual harassment against him.

Dronacharya award winning coach Baldev Singh, former India coach C.R. Kumar and ex-India goalkeeping coach Mir Ranjan Negi are in the race.

The coach is expected to be chosen only after the Hockey India elections scheduled here on July 28.

Kaushik had resigned from his post on Wednesday leaving the team without a coach just before a month for the World Cup, scheduled in Rosario (Argentina) from August 29 to September 11. Meanwhile, both Kaushik and Th. Ranjitha Devi, the player who accused Kaushik of sexual harassment, submitted their written statements to the HI probe committee on Thursday.

On another front in the developments in women’s hockey, the Railway Sports Promotion Board Secretary, Jhanja Tripathy has demanded a “free and fair enquiry” into the matter.

In a letter addressed to HI President Vidya Stokes, the RSPB Secretary wrote: “Since 13 players and the manager (Madhu Yadav) are employees of the Railways, it is natural that we are concerned about their welfare and demand an impartial enquiry,” the letter said.

Ms.Tripathy has objected to one of the HI probe committee members, Zafar Iqbal, favouring Kaushik even before the enquiry is over. She has demanded a fair enquiry into the incident as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the letter said that RSPB had not received any complaint or communication on this issue either from the 13 players or the manager even though they were Railway employees.