Harendra Singh removed being men’s national coach by Hockey India

Harendra Singh is an Indian field hockey coach and the current head coach of the Indian men’s team.

Singh started playing for the French club HC Lyon in 1995 under coach Tony Fernandes who asked Singh to manage the club’s junior side “realising his potential as coach”. After a few years of coaching in France, he returned to India and worked in various coaching and managerial roles of national senior and junior teams in tournaments such as the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2005 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup, 2006 Men’s Hockey World Cup, 2006 Asian Games, 2009 Men’s Hockey Asia Cup and 2010 Men’s Hockey World Cup. He was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2012.

Singh was appointed head coach of the Indian junior team in 2014, and the team won the 2016 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup. In September 2017, he was appointed as the head coach of the India women’s national field hockey team which went on to win the gold medal at the 2017 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup.

High-Performance Director David John and Analytical Coach Chris Ciriello will take charge of the team for the time being.

Citing a very disappointing year for the Indian men’s team, Hockey India (HI) has opted to remove Harendra Singh as the head coach of the team, it was announced on Wednesday. High-Performance Director David John and Analytical Coach Chris Ciriello will take charge of the team for the time being.

“The Committee has recommended reassigning Dronacharya Awardee Harendra Singh as the Coach for the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team,” a statement from Hockey India read.

“The year 2018 was very disappointing for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team with results not going as expected, Hockey India believes investing in the junior program which will reap long-term benefits.”

Hockey India will shortly be advertising and will invite applications for the position of the Chief Coach of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team which will be returning to training camp in February 2019 for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, scheduled to commence from 23 March 2019. In the interim the team will be overseen by Hockey India High-Performance Director, David John and current Analytical Coach, Chris Ciriello,” The statement added.

It was a mixed year for India men’s hockey team as they settled for Bronze at the Asian Games and then won the Gold medal at Asian Champions Trophy. India then finished 6th at the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar to complete a rather underwhelming year.