Hockey India set to rope in foreign expert

Taking a serious note of India's disastrous Azlan Shah campaign, Hockey India on Tuesday decided to rope in a foreign expert for the team and has formed a five-member panel to scout for the best possible candidate within 15 days.

India, who were the joint winners along with South Korea in the last edition of the event, finished a lowly sixth out of seven teams in the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malayia earlier this month.

No sooner had it happened, alarm bells started to ring in the HI circles which held a marathon day-long review meeting of its coaching and development committee at a city hotel here on Tuesday.

Apart from the members of the Pargat Singh-led coaching and development committee, the meeting was also attended by HI secretary general Narinder Batra, newly-appointed Sports Authority of India Director General Desh Deepak Verma and national team coach Harendra Singh.

Besides, former Olympians, some state association representatives, government observers, national team coach Harendra, selection committee member and Azlan Shah-bound team manager Col Balbir Singh, trainer Pradip Dutta, physio Shrikant Iyengar among others.

"We had our coaching and development meeting today to review the team's performance in the Azlan Shah Cup. We had detailed discussions about various issues," HI secretary general Batra told reporters.

"(During the meeting) we came to a consensus that we need a foreign expertise. So, we have formed a five-member committee to rope in a candidate within 15 days," he said.

The five-member panel will include Pargat, SS Grewal, former players Jagbir Singh, A B Subbiah and Balbir. The committte will also have Batra as the convenor.

The HI secretary general, however, made it clear that as of now no changes have been made to the national team's coaching department and the foreign expert may roped in any capacity.

"It's not foreign coach, he can be as an advisor also. But it clear that we won?t compromise and will bring in the best person," Batra said.

"We didn't make any changes to the present coaching staff. We only discussed the way ahead," he added. Batra, however, said that a few changes can be expected in the team in the coming days.

"I won't like to say changes but may be a few corrections in specific areas because we have to rectify. No one is satisfied with the team's performance," he said.