Rach wants to coach women hockey team, SAI says no

New Delhi: Sports Authority of India (SAI) has rejected the application of the German coach Gerhard Peter Rach, who despite his unpleasant past experience with the Indian hockey, was willing to come back here and coach the national women`s team.

Rach, who was the first foreign coach of Indian men`s hockey team, had sent his application to SAI and Hockey India (HI) for the post of chief coach of women`s hockey team. "I left India in 2004 after six months short stint as I could not understand the system. For much of the past decade, I have lived in the subcontinent and have acquired a close understanding of the Asian way of doing things. If necessary, I would brush up my Hindi to be comfortable with players," Rach told reporters from Munich. However, SAI rejected his application citing that it did not need any foreign coach at the moment. "At present we are not looking for a foreign coach," SAI said. Rach also admitted that he wanted to coach the men`s team for Olympic qualifiers. "I wanted to coach India men`s team again but I can`t see any opportunity for me as of now. I am a great fan of Indian hockey and I am impressed with the past performance of women`s team as well. It will be a different challenge altogether and I want to face it," said the former coach of the Bangladesh national team.Clarifying that he had spoken to HI secretary Narinder Batra and technical director Pargat Singh before applying for the post of chief coach, Rach said, "I spoke to Mr Batra and Pargat and they asked me to send my application, which I did." When asked about the reason for leaving the Bangladesh team, he said it was lack of money that prompted him to take that decision. "Bangladesh National Hockey federation lacked the funds required to finance training camps abroad and trips to play foreign opponents. They were not even able to remunerate me fully for my efforts. In fact, my activities in Bangladesh were financed in part through my Dubai based maintenance company," said Rach. PTI