No foreigner interested in hockey job

Hockey India (HI) may well be forced to appoint an Indian as the coach of the men’s team. Not because of the ideological or monetary issues the national body has being talking about so far, but the reason for that is that no foreigner has so far shown interest to coach the national team.

Chairman of HI’s technical committee Pargat Singh said on Wednesday that though they have received bio-data’s of around 10 Olympians, technically advanced and experienced foreign coaches have shown little interest for the top job.

“It was the first time we  (technical committee) met today. We have scanned through the applicants and will shortlist the candidates soon. No foreigner has applied for the job yet, but we are expecting to receive a few resumes in the coming days,” Pargat told DNA.

The deadline for the applications, which initially was Wednesday, has been extended till December 29, HI secretary general Narendra Batra said.

“We’ll see what the response is and then we will meet again on January 5 to shortlist the applicants,” Batra said.

While neither of them divulged the names of the candidates being considered for the job, it is learnt that Harendra Singh, who quit as the national coach following the Asian Games debacle, former captain Dhanraj Pillay, Olympian and drag-flick coach Jugraj Singh, Clarence Lobo, who was the manager of the team during the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and Olympian Gundeep Singh are a few names in the fray.

Asked whether HI would themselves approach a
foreigner, Pargat said, “I cannot say right now. We will meet again in the next few days. We will study the applications we have got so far. If the need arises to approach an experienced foreign coach, we will not hesitate to do that.”

He also said that the committee, which also consists of Merwyn Fernandes, Thoiba Singh and AB Subbaiah, will reconsider Jose Brasa as well.

The Spaniard, whose contract wasn’t renewed after the Asian Games, recently said that he is still the best man to coach the Indian hockey team.