Some players don’t want Negi as coach

NEW DELHI: The sentimental favourite may not be welcome after all. A day after Mir Ranjan Negi threw his hat into the ring and declared himself a potential candidate to coach the Indian women’s hockey team, some of the players expressed reservations about the former goalkeeping coach’s ability to measure up to the job. They also feel that with some big events coming up shortly, time was not right to get in a new coach who will take his time to settle in with the team.

“He (Negi) was quite nice, the encouraging type when he was a part of the Indian team as a goalkeeping coach but we have doubts about his ability as the chief coach,” said a member of the team, on conditions of anonymity, adding, “There are three major tournaments coming up. The big one, the World Cup is from August 29. That’s why we don’t want anyone new. We want Khalid Mohammad as the goalkeeping coach and Sandeep Somesh (assistant coach under MK Kaushik who has resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct) as the head coach. They have been working with the team for the last two years. In fact, for the last two months, they have been working specifically keeping the World Cup and Commonwealth Games in mind and have worked really well with us.”

“They have done analysis of the teams – after watching the video recordings, which they obtained from the Olympics – who are in our World Cup pools like Holland, Germany, Australia and Japan. We have also trained specifically for the New Zealanders, England and South Africa, who are we going to face in the CWG.”

Another player seconded her teammate’s thoughts. “We don’t even want Vasu Thapliyal (the other assistant coach) because his knowledge about the game is limited. He was close to MK Kaushik and not Somesh that’s why Vasu came with us for the tours frequently. Somesh and Khalid know everything about team tactics and if they continue, we believe we can go a step further. If a new coach comes, our rhythm would be broken. And a lot of time would be spent understanding the coach rather than working for the tournaments.”

Negi, though, felt that at this stormy hour, he was the ideal candidate. “I know each and every girl and their style of play. The girls need someone who they can trust and share a rapport with. Right now, their confidence is shaken because of what has happened. Therefore a change is required and I think I can be of help to them,” he said from Mumbai. “They don’t need someone new, who comes out of the blue. That will become a problem then because there are major tournaments coming up. They need a familiar change. I’m the familiar change,” Negi stressed.

Meanwhile, a Hockey India official said that any decision on the coach would only be taken after HI polls, slated for July 28.