Walsh’s demands move to sports minister’s doorstep

NEW DELHI: The three-member panel formed to look into Indian men’s hockey team’s chief coach Terry Walsh’s demands has failed to come to any “conclusion” and has knocked sports minister Sarbananda Sonwal’s door to resolve the issue.

The panel comprising former hockey captains Ajit Pal Singh, Ashok Kumar and Zafar Iqbal met Walsh, Hockey India high performance director Roelant Oltmans and Sports Authority of India officials for the second time on Monday after Friday’s meet and held discussions for over six hours but failed to come to any conclusion.

The concerned parties are now scheduled to meet the Sports Minister tomorrow to solve the impasse, a day before Walsh’s contract expires.

“We had good, healthy discussions for over six hours today but we failed to come to any conclusion,” chairman of the panel Ajitpal Singh said.

“There are some demands on which he is not ready to compromise and we don’t have power to accept them. So the meeting was inconclusive,” he said.

Asked what was the bone of contention, Ajitpal said: “Let’s not discuss all these now. You will come to know in due course of time. But we expect something positive when we meet the sports minister tomorrow.”

Apart from the three-member panel, Executive Director Teams Sudhir Sethia was representing SAI along with other officials, while from Hockey India its CEO Elena Norman was present in the meeting besides Walsh and India’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans.

However, it has been learnt that Walsh has some issues with Hockey India.

He said that responses from the sports ministry and SAI has been positive but the interactions with Hockey India has not been encouraging. Walsh has also hinted that he might hold a press conference on this issue on Tuesday.

The panel has hardly any time to decide on the future of Walsh, who has categorically said that he won’t continue after his contract expires on November 19, if he does not have his way in running of the team.

Walsh’s sudden resignation last month came as a surprise to many after he guided India to their first Asian Games gold in 16 years. A day later, however, the Australian agreed to continue in his role, provided his conditions were fulfilled.

Besides asking for more decision-making powers for himself and Oltmans, Walsh wants handpicked personnel as his support staff and more time with family in Australia.

It has been reported that Walsh has asked for 120 days of paid leave, during which, he will keep in touch with the team through video conferencing.