Times of India: Indian hockey doesn’t need foreign coaches: Mohammed Shahid

NEW DELHI: Mohammed Shahid, one of the greatest names in Indian hockey and part of the team that won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, has criticised the string of foreign coaches being employed to oversee the national side and expressed fear that the sport will nosedive further in years to come. The Indian men’s team, coached by Dutchman Roelant Oltmans, has qualified for this year’s Rio Olympics but according to Shahid, there is no chance of a medal this year.

“If those foreign coaches are so good then they would have been coaching their own country. We are eight-time Olympic champions and we are proud of that fact but as per the current scenario we should not expect any medal from the team in the upcoming Rio Olympics,” the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri recipient wrote in his column for a newly launched Hindi sports magazine, Khel Today.

“The world has learnt hockey from Indians and from my point of view this is totally absurd that foreigners can teach us the game of hockey better. Why should we learn from them? A lot of foreign coaches have been changed in the last two decades and the outcome is that neither the players have adjusted with the coaches nor have the coaches hit the right tone with the players.”

According to Shahid, whose abilities as a forward during the 1980s marked him out as an exceptional talent, what was holding Indian hockey back was an obsession with strategic plans instead of getting more opportunities to play at the international level.

“We have to really work hard to win a medal in the Olympics and as far as the development of hockey is concerned, I can only say that instead of making long-term plans for the game, we should play more hockey rather than making plans. Also the Indian team needs to bring out positive results as things can only become better when they start winning consistently,” he wrote.

Reflecting on India’s failure to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 56-year-old Shahid said he had been stunned back then.

“I felt very sad as it was the worst day in the history of Indian hockey. I was so distressed as I have never thought of that situation in my wildest of dreams. The day has come that we won’t be playing in Olympics,” he wrote.