There has always been an unhealthy relation between foreign and Indian coaches in charge of hockey teams across age groups. Some Indian coaches have questioned the need for appointing “foreigners” to top mentoring positions. The trouble started in 2021, when Hockey India requested Australian Graham Reid to take charge of the junior men’s team for the World Cup even though the project till then had been managed by B J Kariappa. Though the latter had hand-picked the players for the tournament, the team was handed over to Reid for that one assignment.
The issue once again reared its head last week. P R Sreejesh, the legendary custodian who after almost two years as head coach of the junior team oversaw India’s third-place finish at the 2025 World Cup, had reapplied for the post. But he was instead asked to take care of a ‘developmental side’ or be the goalkeeping coach of the men’s team, which he considered a slight. What followed was an unholy back-and-forth before HI appointed France’s Frederic Soyez to look after the junior team. Whatever were the reasons for the bitterness, the broader issue isn’t limited to Indian hockey or the two-time Olympic medallist.
While the country has slowly started producing medallists in various disciplines, most sports still depend on foreign hands. A fair few Indian coaches today report to their foreign counterparts. Why is it so? It takes time to build a coaching ecosystem where everything is assuredly home-bred. In a sport like hockey, only a handful of Indians have completed all coaching modules of the International Hockey Federation. Amid such a field of choices, it’s not unexpected for HI to consider experts from abroad. Even in sports such as wrestling, weightlifting, shooting and badminton, cutting-edge expertise for Indian athletes is provided by foreigners. Sreejesh himself won both his Olympic medals when foreign coaches were at the helm. On the other hand, the success of shooter Manu Bhaker, who has been mentored by Jaspal Rana, is proof that Indian coaches can produce elite athletes, too. But there’s no shame in admitting that local expertise needs to be complemented by foreign knowhow in a few sports. Rather than bickering, India should invest in training coaches for all sports. That would be a healthier way to settle the debate for the future.
