New coaching unit brings holistic experience to Indian men’s hockey team

New coaching unit brings holistic experience to Indian men’s hockey team

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The Indian men’s hockey team is set to get a new coaching unit a couple of months before the FIH Series Finals as Hockey India has recommended Graham Reid's name for the chief coach’s post to the sports ministry. Shivendra Singh is also set to be appointed as an assistant coach of the team.

The Indian men’s hockey team travelled to Malaysia without a chief coach and returned as the runners-up at the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup which concluded on Saturday. Despite being the highest ranked side in the tournament, the Manpreet Singh-led side which travelled under Hockey India’s high-performance director (HPD) David John, lost to Korea in a shoot-out in the final of the prestigious tournament. 

After India’s loss against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the previous World Cup in December last year, Hockey India had asked Harendra Singh to step down from the top position. The national body had then invited fresh applications for the post of the chief coach while many former players criticised Hockey India’s decision of removing the former coach.

However, currently, there are reports that the Hockey India has zeroed down on former Australian defensive midfielder Graham Reid’s name for the post of the chief coach of the team with former Indian forward Shivendra Singh as the assistant coach. The new coaching set-up will also comprise current analytical coach Chris Ciriello and Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach Piyush Dubey for the men’s team.

Graham Reid

The former head coach of the Australian men’s team, Reid’s name has been proposed by the Hockey India and a nod from the sports ministry is awaited to confirm his appointment as the next chief coach of the Indian team. The 54-year-old former defensive midfielder has a vast experience as a coach while managing different teams at the international and club level. But, he was recently dismissed from his post of Head Coach of AH&BC (Amsterdam hockey club) after which the speculation of his appointment gained momentum.

Having won a silver medal in the Olympics in 1992 and a bronze in 1990 World Cup as a player for the Aussies, he has had a decorated career as a coach of the Kookaburras. He was appointed as the assistant coach of the Australian men’s team in 2009 and was an understudy of Ric Charlesworth. He took over the charge of the team in the absence of Charlesworth for a temporary period in 2012 and won the Champions Trophy gold that year as well. After Charlesworth decided to leave the team, he stepped in as the joint head coach alongside Paul Gaudoin and the duo took Australia to a Commonwealth Games gold medal in Glasgow 2014. He finally took the complete charge of the Kookaburras following that and the Australian side under his guidance won gold medals in 2015 Hockey World League and 2016 Champions Trophy, where they had defeated India in the penalty shootout.

However, he left for Amsterdam after the Rio Olympics in 2016 where the Aussies failed to make it to the semi-finals. He joined the prestigious Amsterdam Hockey Club as the head coach alongside being the head coach of the Dutch national team that played under the guidance of Max Caldas. He won the EuroHockey Nations Championships in 2015 before finishing second at the 2018 World Cup with the Netherlands. 

With a coaching experience of around 10 years with international teams, Reid must have studied the playing style of most of the Indian players which might be an important factor for him to succeed in his next job with the Men in Blue. He is expected to be complemented well by the fellow Australians HPD John and analytical coach Ciriello in India. According to hockey experts, together they can bring the Australian playing style into Indian hockey and the major challenge for him will be ensuring the qualification of the Indian side for the 2020 Olympics. 

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Shivendra Singh 

Reid will have the help of former India forward Shivendra Singh who has been appointed as the new assistant coach of the senior men’s team. Shivendra, who is still active as a player in domestic tournaments, played for India in the forward line and will work exclusively with the strikers in the Indian side.

The 35-year-old forward was a live wire on the turf while playing for the Indian side during his earlier days and he is still an active player representing Air India in various corporate tournaments across the country. The striker played for the Indian team in the 2012 London Olympics, where the Men in Blue had performed poorly and finished at the 12th position. Among the major events of his career, India won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games at home and a bronze at the Asian Games in the same year in Guangzhou. He had also played his part in the 2007 Asia Cup in Chennai where India had won the title beating South Korea by 7-2 goals in the final. Shivendra had scored the opening goal for the Indian side as early as in the fourth minute of the match. 

Although Shivendra has no professional experience as a coach but being a current player, his experience of playing with and against almost all the players in the national team will be beneficial for the side. He will be able to understand the problems of the players better than Reid or Ciriello in the coaching team because of the language. From the technical point of view, the coaching set-up will now have a good combination of a defensive midfielder in Reid, a drag-flicker in Ciriello and a striker in Shivendra as well. His inclusion might help the young strikers like Shilanand Lakra and Gursahibjit Singh, who showed good promise in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, along with the seasoned campaigners like Lalit Upadhyay, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh and others.

Piyush Kumar Dubey

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Sports Authority of India (SAI) Piyush Kumar Dubey had joined the Indian men’s camp in Bengaluru last month ahead of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. The 37-year-old coach worked with the goalkeepers in the camp and also travelled with the team to Malaysia for the tournament. Now as per recent reports, Dubey will continue being a part of the coaching set-up in the future as well and will work with the goalkeepers exclusively. 

He is a promising coach with the SAI and many of his trainees excelled in various junior and senior tournaments all over the country in the last few years. Dubey was a part of the 25-member coaches pool which travelled to Birmingham in 2016 on an exposure trip. 

Dubey’s inclusion might just help young keepers like Krishan Bahadur Pathak who was given a longer run in the post during the recently-concluded Azlan Shah Cup. He was seen more often in place of PR Sreejesh and showed some good skills as well. India asked him to stay at the post during the penalty shoot-out in the final which Korea won 4-2. Sreejesh, Suraj Karkera, and Pathak have been the three regular goalkeepers in the Indian squads for last year or so now and Dubey will work closely for their betterment ahead with the qualification for the Olympics in mind.

Apart from the three, 33-year-old Ciriello will continue being a part of the coaching team as well. The former Australian drag-flicker was appointed last year as an analytical coach and will continue with his role in the team under compatriot Reid.

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