New Delhi: Indian women’s hockey team, playing in the four-nation tournament in the Netherlands, is in disarray without a coach or a manager as M K Kaushik is missing from the contingent because his employer did not clear him to accompany the squad for the 22-day Europe tour. The absence of the chief coach became more blatant in Rotterdam as India were thrashed 0-2 by Great Britain in their opening encounter on Tuesday.

Kaushik said his employer Haryana Sports Department was yet to clear his name and without their clearance, sanctioning of leave and permission to leave the country was not possible.

“The IWHF has got my visa and other papers cleared. The moment I get the clearances from my department I will leave at the next available flight,” Kaushik said. But he refused to give any appropriate time as to when he will get all these clearances. The Indian Women’s Hockey Federation, however, did not feel it important to send a manager with the 18-member team led by Surinder Kaur, which left for the Netherlands on Monday night.

IWHF secretary Amrit Bose conceded that though they have requested for three coaches, the government has cleared only two names for the tour.

“Unfortunately, Kaushik could not get his department’s clearance, so he could not go. I have requested India’s technical director Richard Charlesworth who is already in Rotterdam to take care of the team,” she said. On the issue of the absence of a manager, Bose said, “government has refused to clear manager on their cost. They will clear only if we post a permanent manager which we will be decided shortly. The team is accompanied by assistant coach Vasu Thapliyal, video analyst Raninder Kumar, physiotherapist Aditya Shankar and two officials Jude Sharda Sharma and umpire P S Anupama.

However, with Kaushik uncertain to join the team, Thapliyal’s dual job as a coach and manager is a matter of conjecture. Kaushik had also attended only concluding two days’ of a month-long open trials last month at Lucknow soon after the Indian team returned from the Kazan Olympic qualifiers. When contacted, director sports, Haryana sports department, Sudir Mohan said the Haryana government has released him on long-term basis. According to Sports Authority of India sources, the SAI is willing to take Kaushik on deputation but that will take a couple of months to materialise. “We have asked for two months leave from Haryana government before we finalise rules and regulation,” a SAI official said.

Note: This article was written by K. Arumugam for Press Trust of India