By IANS
Chandigarh : Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president K.P.S. Gill Saturday virtually ruled out the idea of having a foreign coach for the national team saying that no purpose would be served by doing so.
“I am not averse to having a foreign coach but I don’t see any purpose in doing that,” Gill told reporters here.
Gill said the experience of the Pakistani national hockey side in having a foreign coach recently did not go well and Pakistan only slipped in international rankings.
“Their (foreign) coach, after leaving the Pakistan side, started coaching another side. When the Pakistan team played that team, they lost because the coach knew their weaknesses,” Gill pointed out.
The IHF president also cited the experience of the Indian cricket team with a foreign coach (Greg Chappell) and said that the team had won the Test series in England this week without having a regular coach.
Gill also said that another hindrance in having a foreign coach was the language barrier.
“Most of our boys come from simple backgrounds and some of them cannot even speak Hindi properly, what to say of talking and understanding English from a foreign coach,” he said.
Gill, who has been criticized widely for his leadership of IHF, refuted allegations that he imposed his will on Indian hockey.
“There is a proper selection committee comprising former Indian captains. They make selections as per merit,” he added.