Longer tenure for foreign coaches

The next foreign coach to take charge of the Indian hockey team will not have to bother about duration. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has changed the rules and has paved way for long-term contracts for foreign experts. HT Correspondent reports.

The one thing that frustrated Australian legend Ric Charlesworth during his brief tenure as Indian Hockey Federation's technical advisor was the rules that gave foreign experts a very short tenure. The contracts used to be for one year and then the period was reduced to just six months.

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Well, the next foreign coach to take charge of the Indian hockey team will not have to bother about duration. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has changed the rules and has paved way for long-term contracts for foreign experts.

Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs MS Gill told a press conference here on Tuesday that he had looked into the demand for longer terms for foreign coaches and changed the rules.

"Six months or one year is not a very long period and I realise that they need more time to work with the teams. Some of them need time till the Commonwealth Games. We haven't decided on any particular period. That'll be decided on the basis of each case. What I want to say is that I have changed the rule for the six-month contracts for foreign coaches and experts," Gill said after inaugurating a synthetic athletics track at the SAI Training Centre here at Kandivali.

Gill said the ad-hoc committee that governs hockey in the country had decided on Spaniard Jose Brasa as a candidate to take over as the new hockey coach.