Former Indian captains and Olympians – Sardar Singh and Rani Rampal – will be seen in new roles as coaches and mentors of Indian sub-junior boys and girls. Their new assignments start on August 21 when they take command of the special camps being organized for grooming boys and girls as future stars. Both camps will be held at the newly created world-class hockey Centre at Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela.
The list of players called for these camps will be released by Hockey India shortly. Selections, according to sources, were made on the basis of the performance of the upcoming players in the last National championships held a couple of months ago.
Though Sardar Singh had a coaching assignment earlier when he took an experimental side to Malaysia for participation in an international tournament there, it will be a new experience for Rani Rampal, who remained at the helm of Indian women’s hockey as the main strike player for more than a decade.
Incidentally, both come from the famous Shahabad Markanda Hockey Centre. They had trained under Dronacharya coach Baldev Singh. Now onwards they themselves follow the footsteps of their mentor and coach Baldev Singh before mentoring and coaching young boys and girls at the Rourkela camp.
Hockey India, which announced these appointments after its 100th Executive Board meeting, says that it is planning some international matches for sub-junior boys and girls. Details of these matches are still not disclosed.
At its meeting held under the chairmanship of Olympian and President of Hockey India, Dilip Tirkey, commitment to the growth and development of hockey in the country was reaffirmed. The historic meeting discussed crucial matters shaping the future of the sport.
Special invitees to the meeting were International Hockey Federation (FIH) President Dato Tayyab Ikram and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) President Fumio Ogura. They both were given commemorative mementoes.