Aussie knowhow for Indian hockey

Surender Negi, TNN

NEW DELHI: The hockey mantra is clear. India will go back to the days of the classical style of hockey, tweaked enough to suit the modern-day demands.

Australian Michael Jack Nobbs, 57, will marry his own ingenuity and the needs of the times with the country’s very own 5-3-2-1 formation which will be the basis of the Indian game in the future.

Nobbs, who landed the job for a five-year period, will join the probables at the camp in Bangalore on July 3. He will oversee the camp at Sports Authority of India, South Centre till July 8, fly back to Australia before returning to Bangalore at the end of the month.

“The committee under my chairmanship has unanimously selected Michael Nobbs as the coach upto the 2016 Olympics. His selection was based on several factors including experience and organising capabilities which were explicit from his CV. What weighed in his favour was that Australia play the same style of hockey as India and if they can excel with the style, we can also do that,” SAI director general Desh Deepak Verma said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The former Aussie centre-half was chosen over the Dutch duo of Roelant Oltmans and Jacques Brinkman after deliberations lasting over two days.

While Dutch Olympian Brinkman was ruled out early in the race, Oltmans was very much in the reckoning, as his presentation showed, but was insistent on bringing in four of his own support staff.

According to sources, he wanted an annual pay of 250,000 euros and another 250,000-300,000 euros for the support staff, a demand which killed his chances.

Nobbs has been allowed to bring in exercise physiologist David John for Australian $5,000 per month. He has been given the liberty to add one more of his support staff to the team.

Nobbs’ remuneration has been fixed at Australian $10,000 per month (about Rs 4.8 lakh) with a guaranteed raise of 10% if India qualify for the London Olympics, a task which Nobbs has described as ‘very difficult is such a short time.’

The committee has also indicated a revision in the terms & agreements depending on India’s performance at the London Olympics.

Indian team’s last foreign coach, Jose Brasa’s term expired after the Guangzhou Asian Games in November and the reins of the team were handed to his assistant Harendra Singh but a disastrous campaign at the Azlan Shah tournament led to his axe.

Nobbs, who represented his country in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has served as an assistant coach of the Japanese women’s team during 1993-1999 and then as their chief coach (2007-08).