Terry Walsh quits as chief coach of Indian hockey team

TNN

NEW DELHI: In a major blow to Indian hockey, national coach Terry Walsh has quit from his post after the demands put by him are not met by the Indian authorities on Tuesday.

Walsh told mediapersons on Tuesday that demands were not met this time but he hopes to return to Indian hockey soon.

Walsh to fly back to Australia without taking his resignation back. His contract ends on November 19.

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.

Earlier on Monday, 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.

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.

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.