World cup show underlines decline

V Narayan Swamy

BANGALORE: The sense of deja vu is inescapable . Only two victories to show for years of training, familiar mistakes on the field and the worst-ever finish — 10th — in Junior World Cup hockey.

With six players from the senior team and a preparatory stretch that ought to have sharpened them enough for the global competition , India could not have asked for more. Yet they fluffed their lines when called upon, the worst moment being against South Korea who were allowed to claw back for a draw towards the end of the match.

Even High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans couldn’t hide his bafflement. “There is nothing positive at this moment,” he was reported as saying by a newspaper. “Players need a lot of skills. They also need to be clever.”

Former players are aghast at the slump and wonder whether the team actually benefitted from a foreign coach. Midfield legend Ajitpal Singh was among those to point out the futility of employing such coaches as also former India captain MP Ganesh and 1980 Olympian Allan Schofield.

Former goalkeeper Schofield hit the nail on the head when he said that India needed mind trainers who could make the players psychologically stronger. “That’s something only an Indian can do. No foreign expert, no matter how good he might be, can understand or decipher the mindset of an Indian.”

While the role of foreign coach cannot be totally discounted, fetching Gregg Clark of South Africa six months before the Junior World Cup has been questioned by these stalwarts.

What rankles them is that India has already been set back by more than two years, with a despicable 12th place at the Olympics and 10th position at the Junior World Cup to show as results. More importantly, the process that ought to have begun with coach Michael Nobbs in May 2011 has continued to remain on paper with the new think-tank yet to get cracking on it. India cannot hope much from Rio Olympics in 2016 either. The sights, if utterances from the coaches are any indication, are now focussed on 2020 Tokyo.

This brings us to the question: Is too much money being spent on foreign coaches? Six experts, including Clark whose contract ended with the Junior World Cup, are on Sports Authority of India rolls, the money being paid to them as salary being a whopping Rs 4.15 crore every year.

Compare this to shooting that has been bringing India medals from the 2004 Olympics. Two coaches — Stanislav Lapidus (rifle) and Pavel Smirnov (pistol) — employed at $7,000 each per month. Shotgun coach Marcello Dradi charges 550 euros a day for a maximum of 160 days a year. Ennio Falco (skeet, 450 euros) and Daniella del Din (junior shotgun, 350 euros ) work on a contract similar to Dradi’s .

“Foreign experts should ideally be with us for shorter durations, imparting knowledge to India’s coaches in areas where they are weak. Our coaches should be in charge of teams rather than the foreigners,” Ganesh said.

The Union government and Sports Authority of India were disappointed with the result too. “We have increased the total budget for hockey from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore this year. To see India finishing 10th is disappointing considering the money spent,” SAI sources told TOI.
The sources felt it was time they introduced a plan to assess foreign coaches periodically. “They have been talking about their long-term plans but that cannot stop us from determining whether they have met short-term targets too. The idea has not been met with an enthusiastic response but with the sort of money that we pay, it is high time the appraisal is introduced as soon as possible,” sources said.