Australian Terry Walsh is set to be appointed as head coach of the Indian men's hockey team after the Sports Authority of India recommended his name to the Sports Ministry.
India's ace forward SV Sunil and midfielder Manpreet Singh have been ruled out of the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy due to their respective injuries. While Sunil still carries the wrist injury from Rio Olympics during India's encounter against Canada, Manpreet has recently picked up a groin injury. "Manpreet's is a repeated groin injury. Though it is manageable at this stage, it should not become chronic hence we decided to keep him back here for rehabilitation. Sunil and Raghunath (who is recovering from an elbow injury) will also be in SAI while the team is away in Malaysia," confirmed Chief Coach Roelant Oltmans.
Having achieved the goal of a podium finish at the recently-concluded Champions Trophy in London, the Indian men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans has now set his eyes on his next big target -- the Rio Olympics.
Women's national hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne was on Friday named chief coach of the Indian men's team -- a stunning decision given that the Dutchman has no prior experience of handling a senior men's side.
The age-old malady of inconsistency remained unaddressed but Indian hockey did take baby steps towards global success in 2017, a year which reaffirmed the nation's continental supremacy in the sport.
Leaking late goals has been something of an Achilles' heel for the Indian hockey team but captain Sardar Singh believes his team have addressed the issue as they head to Rio looking for the country's first Olympic medal in 36 years. Once-mighty India are the most decorated nation in the sport's Olympic history but the South Asians collected the last of their eight gold medals way back at the Moscow Games in 1980. Having failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2008, the team representing a nation of 1.3 billion people did recover to seal a spot at the London Games four years later only to finish last among the 12 countries taking part.
Taking a cue from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Hockey India advertised for the position for the first time on its website http://hockeyindia.org.
Continuing with their impressive run, India blanked Canada 3-0 to register their second consecutive win at the Hockey World League Semi-Final, in London, on Saturday
Coach Roelant Oltmans expressed confidence that the team would make it to the semi-final.
The Belgians finished first in pool A and hence will be teamed against India.
An inconsistent India lost 1-3 to the Netherlands to slump to their second defeat in the tournament and finish at the bottom of Pool B at the Hockey World League (HWL) Final in Raipur on Monday.
While there are rumours that Sardar Singh's axing is because of his dip in form in recent times, the team's chief coach and High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans said the move was necessitated to relieve the ace midfielder from excess responsibilities.
Former hockey ace Mervyn Fernandis slammed the umpiring in Sunday's Asia Cup hockey final, which India lost to South Korea, while hailing the team's showing in the tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Sreejesh to lead India as team will experiment with different combinations and execute new tactics
Fancied India crashed out of the Hockey World League Semi-Final after suffering a shocking 2-3 defeat at the hands of Malaysia in a quarter-final match in London on Thursday.
There is a regular pattern in the performance of the Indian hockey team -- they start getting sloppy after posting healthy leads early in matches.
Overall, the record stands 1-1 between the two sides as Pakistan had the last laugh in the 2006 Games in Melbourne.
Keen to start their Rio Olympic Games campaign on a winning note, Indian hockey men's captain PR Sreejesh said that his team would not be taking unpredictable Ireland lightly when they face-off on Saturday.
Delhi Wizards, on Monday, joined Karnataka Lions, Chennai Cheetahs and Pune Strykers as the latest team to take part in the World Series Hockey tournament starting next month in various venues in the country.
While praising the Indian men hockey team's progress under the guidance of coach Roelant Oltmans, former international Viren Rasquinha did not hold out a realistic chance for the country to climb the medals podium at the upcoming Rio Olympics.
The Indian hockey team's stand-in captain and goalkeeper P R Sreejesh says the Champions Trophy in England and the following six-nation hockey tournament in Spain will give his side the opportunity to test players' mental strength ahead of the Rio Olympic Games.
Chief coach of the Indian men's hockey Michael Nobbs said on Tuesday he wasn't "pushed out" but willingly resigned from the job owing to deteriorating health.
The gold medal-winning Indian men's hockey team will receive a cash reward of Rs 2.5 lakh each from Hockey India for their stupendous show at the Asian Games.
Striker Gurwinder Singh Chandi failed to make the cut as Hockey India announced an 18-member squad, led by Sadar Singh, for the eight-nation Hero men's Champions Trophy, in Bhubaneswar, from December 6-14. Lalit Upadhyay, who was capped nine times earlier, has been drafted in place of Chandi in the squad, named by Hockey India selectors after trials at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi on November 18.
Pargat Singh played a key role in Michael Nobbs' appointment as India's chief hockey coach but the former captain now says it is high time the under-performing Australian is given the "marching orders".
Indian hockey captain PR Sreejesh, who played a pivotal role in his side's 2-1 win over Argentina at the Rio Olympics, said it's his job to "give life" to the team in the dying moments of a match. Leading 2-0 with Chinglensana Singh and Kothajit Singh's strikes in the first three quarters, India survived a final-quarter onslaught from Argentina for a nail-biting win to virtually secure a quarterfinal berth at the men's hockey competition.
Sports Ministry officials clarified that they are yet to receive any form of communication on Indian men's hockey team coach Paul van Ass, who claims to have been sacked by Hockey India.
India's men's hockey team was handed a tough group for the Rio Olympic Games as it has been pooled with defending champions Germany, European Champions Netherlands and Pan-American Games champions Argentina in the six-team Pool B.
Asian champions India have never won the Champions Trophy in its last 36 editions but will be hoping to claim the feat in the tournament's last edition.
Virtually assured of a quarterfinal spot after their morale-boosting win against Argentina, a buoyant India will face world number two side the Netherlands in a tough pool B clash in the Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. After a close 3-2 win over Ireland in their opening match, India suffered a disappointing 1-2 loss against the reigning Olympic champions Germany but bounced back to notch up a 2-1 win against Argentina to remain among the top four in the six-team pool. The target now will be to finish the league stages as high as possible in the points table so as to avoid the world number one Australia in the last eight fixture.
Indian men's hockey team witnessed a disappointing start to its campaign at the six-nation Invitational tournament, losing 0-4 to Germany in their opening match in Valencia on Monday. In a first quarter blitz, Germany took the lead in the fifth minute via Mats Grambusch. Grambusch doubled Germany's lead minutes later before Moritz Furste scored a third in the 14th minute to take a 3-0 lead into the first break.
Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay on Monday batted for participation of Pakistan's players in the Hockey India League (HIL) tournament and urged Hockey India to take up the issue with politicians to ensure their presence in the future editions of the franchise-based league.
India's star drag-flicker V Raghunath netted two goals to help the hosts settle for a 2-2 draw against world champions Australia in the first hockey Test of the three-match series, in Rajnandgaon, on Thursday.
Indian women hockey could never recover from three early setbacks and ended up losing the Hawke's Bay Cup quarter-final 1-3 to Japan, in Hastings, on Thursday.
Fired India hockey coach Paul van Ass says Hockey India president Narinder Batra was just finding ways to fire him.
For Indian hockey, 2016 was a year in which much was promised and achieved as well. It was also a year where India made significant and visible advancements but deep down somewhere the pain of missing out on an Olympic medal will remain for four more years.
Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay has expressed a desire to be the coach of the national hockey team. He claims that if given a free hand he can deliver results within a year.
Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra confirmed that that they are in look out for a foreign expert to work with Indian goalkeepers on short-term basis.
The Indian hockey team will miss the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics amid speculation that the kit did not fit some of the players ahead of the parade to take place at the Maracana Stadium.
Newly-appointed chief coach Graham Reid's biggest desire is to have a 'stable environment' for himself as well as his players.
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