When Michael Nobbs was appointed as the Indian hockey team’s chief coach, everybody believed that he would create magic in the team. But despite being the chief coach for over two years and receiving huge paychecks, Nobbs failed to create a powerful hockey team for India.
Nobbs was severely criticized when the Indian hockey team finished right at the bottom of the London Olympics. The last straw was when the Indian team could not finish in the top three of Round Three of the Hockey World League, which was held in Netherlands.
Sports Authority of India Director General Jiji Thomson said that the authority has decided to give Nobbs a one-month notice before terminating his contract. He also said that the Indian government has been spending huge sums of money on hockey, owing to which the authority was disappointed with the hockey team’s poor performance. But Narinder Batra, secretary general of Hockey India, said that Nobbs had revealed his decision to resign at a meeting held on Friday with Roelant Oltmans, the high performance coach.
Oltmans will take over the hockey training camp, which will be held at Bangalore from July 16. Batra said that Oltmans will handle the team till Hockey India finds another foreign coach.
Hockey India is also mulling over appointing Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, the former coach of the national men’s team. His papers have already been submitted to the Sports Authority of India and a decision will be taken soon.
If Kaushik is roped in, his first task will be to prepare the team for the Asia Cup, which will be held next month. The Indian team has to win the Asian Cup in order to play in the World Cup. If Kaushik enters the team and gets results, Indian hockey satta could become a lucrative market.
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