Trust own men, Kaushik pleads to IHF

CHANDIGARH, MAY 5: The lop-sided system has virtually reduced the role of an Indian coach to a beggar. Indian trainers must be respecte...

CHANDIGARH, MAY 5: “The lop-sided system has virtually reduced the role of an Indian coach to a beggar. Indian trainers must be respected. Give them their proper place as they can mould a player into a world-beater. The hire and fire policy of the various federations is leading to the downfall of standards. And the cry for a foreign coach will in no way solve the problem. There are a lot of talented coaches in India. The need is to identify them and weave them into a well-knit unit. Then the results would be automatically encouraging,” says former hockey chief coach M K Kaushik who guided India to gold in the 13th Asian Games last year.

Kaushik, who was here recently to receive an award from Haryana Governor Mahabir Prasad, was not convinced about the policy of the Government, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). All are prepared to spend money to hire a foreign coach, but nobody is prepared to give the same treatment and respect to an Indian coach, hefelt.

Stoutly defending the Indian coaches, Kaushik raised a number of points in their favour. “Can a foreign coach have a proper co-ordination with the players in the face of language problem? Our conditions are quite different.

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We are more skillful though physically we are definitely weak. Moreover which country can afford to spare the services of its top coaches. We must have confidence in our own men.”

The IOA is willing to foot the bill of a foreign coach hired by the federation. However, the apex sports body is yet to make a similar offer to Indian coaches. It is reported that Cedric D’Souza is prepared to coach the team again but has demanded adequate compensation for leaving’ ESPN. Jude Felix has also reportedly demanded money.

Kaushik, however, admitted that foreigners have developed and followed our technique thereby leaving us miles behind. The Indian coaches become silent once the federation announces the hiring of a foreign coach. “We have already lost considerable time after winningthe gold medal in Bangkok in December last. In fact we have not capitalised the time after qualifying for the Sydney Olympics.

“We need international exposure against Australia, Germany, Holland and Spain and other countries who have qualified for Sydney. Video recordings of the matches against these countries and Olympic qualifying tournaments must be thoroughly studied and then develop tactical training. The Indian team must reach the Olympic venue at least 10 days prior to the competition for proper acclimitisation.”

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TheTest series against Pakistan after returning from Bangkok and resting of six top players, including captain Dhanraj Pillay, has demoralised the Indian team which lost the series badly. “The series was without any aim and timing was against us. It has demoralised both the selected as well as the dropped players. It proved a step backwards. On the other hand, it was a morale boosting series for Pakistan,” opines Kaushik, who is presently a deputy director in Haryana Sports Department.