Lot of Things Said About Me Were Hurtful: Former India Hockey Coach Terry Walsh to NDTV

Terry Walsh represented Australia in two Olympic games, winning a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He also had two very successful coaching stints with the Australian and Dutch national teams.

But, he's best known in India as the man who delivered the Asian Games gold after a long gap of 16 years.

However, just months after success, Walsh resigned as the coach of the national side citing bureaucratic hurdles.

In his first interview after leaving India, Walsh spoke to NDTV about why he left Indian hockey, the allegations and counter allegations that followed his resignation, and the future of the sport in India.

Q: Do you wish I called you the current India coach rather than former coach?

A: I work with reality. The reality is that I am no longer coach of India. I really enjoyed coaching the Indian team and I thank everyone for the chance

Q: What went wrong? Last we heard was that you had a positive meeting with Sports Authority of India, then why the resignation?

A: It was difficult from my perspective to deal with SAI and Hockey India. The person I wanted to deal with was Dr Batra, but the way it was set up was that my employer was SAI. So it was a difficult scenario and a very difficult line to tread. So it was hard to talk to one and indeed my pay masters were from the sports authority and that's really where the nexus is.

Q: Did you then pay the price for the power tussle between SAI and Hockey India?

A: I can't make an assessment of that. I'm naive in that area. I was in India for 12 months and I was aware that things were very different compared to what I was used to, the way elite sports would be run within a high performance unit. But I respect that. I was probably careless in not understanding that well enough. But I have no malice towards anybody.

Q: You may not have malice towards anyone. But the digging up an old issue of financial misappropriation during your time in the US, that many would say was malicious on Hockey India's part?

A: That was all a red herring in the whole deal. There was something else, maybe it was the power struggle who knows. For me, I'm not interested in that. I'm only interested in player performance and team performance. But a lot of things that were said were pretty hurtful I think. I've never been derogatory towards anybody. And I don't think there was any need for some of that.

Q: Despite what happened, would you ever be tempted to go back?

A: Never say never. In sports things have changed dramatically in the last 20 years. So never say never.

Q: Finally, You may not be with the Indian team right now, but no one knows the present bunch better than you. So, here's the all important question- do they have it in them to win an Olympic medal that a nation so desires?

A: I've been one of those rare people that have gone to several different countries for coaching. 5 countries. Yes, I can see it. I can really see it. I think there is an outside chance, given the scenario world over, there is an outside chance that you've got of a podium finish in 2016 Olympics.