With door closing, hockey coach Rach puts his foot down

‘‘I was told by Jothikumaran (IHF Secretary) that the Sports Ministry is not satisfied with me. The Sports Minister (Sunil Dutt) is unhappy with my performance. And without government support, the federation does not have enough money to pay me,’’ said Rach.

Although the coach’s status will be decided after his meeting with IHF president KPS Gill on Tuesday in New Delhi, indications are the former German international will be shown the door.

The IHF had invited Rach to take over the team 15 days before the Athens Olympics after it sacked Rajinder Singh.

But his stock started slipping following allegations that he had committed tax fraud in Germany.

Then, the coach went public with his reservations on the attitude of some senior players during the Olympics where India finished seventh.

Subsequently, veteran Dhanraj Pillay and the entire forwardline—Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur—found themselves out of the team.

And, India went on to lose to Spain and Pakistan at home.

Today, Rach was a bitter man, directing his ire against the IHF approach, especially its selection policies.

‘‘If I could, I would fire Sandeep Michael (forward) any day. Ditto with Harpal Singh and Adam Sinclair. They do not have the class to play international hockey,’’ he said.

He also claimed that he had no hand in Thakur, Gagan Ajit and Prabhjot being dropped.

‘‘I want Deepak in the team. He is an excellent player. I was told he was unfit, but if he is not, then he should have been here. There is no reason for his sitting out,’’ said Rach.

On Gagan and Prabhjot, he said, ‘‘I also have nothing against them, as far as I am concerned there is absolutely no problem.’’

Rach was also critical about the way the team was primed for important events. ‘‘We have played Pakistan 16 times this year. They are good, but not the best. What we need to do is play against perhaps Holland, or Germany, or Spain 14-16 times a year,’’ said Rach.

On today’s loss, he said, ‘‘Everyone was expecting us to finish last. But we did manage to avoid that. In fact, we could have won the bronze medal. But we presented it to the Pakistan side, we gifted it away.’’

Interestingly, the India side finished fourth in last year’s Champions Trophy too, despite the presence of senior players such as Pillay, Gagan Ajit, Thakur and Prabhjot.