Soon after Janneke Schopman quit as the head coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, a top contender to succeed the Dutchwoman was a familiar name in hockey circles - Harendra Singh. Sure enough, the Dronacharya award winner, who has coached various Indian teams including the senior men and women for over two decades, has taken over as the head coach of the senior women’s team.
Harendra, who until recently served as coach of the USA men’s hockey team, returned to the country to join the women’s camp last week. Sources in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) confirmed that Harendra has been involved in pruning the 60-member assessment squad to a core group of 33 during the trials held on April 6 and 7.
It is learnt that Harendra is in the process of putting together a team of support staff after most of them left along with Schopman. An official announcement from Hockey India has been put on hold due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in place for the Lok Sabha elections.
As a coach, Harendra’s career with Indian hockey began in 1997, and under him, India have won 11 gold medals including the 2016 men’s junior World Cup, 2017 women’s Asia Cup and 2018 Asian Champions Trophy (men). Harendra was brought in as the senior men’s coach in 2017. During his tenure which lasted over a year, India claimed the bronze at the 2018 Asian Games and finished fifth at the FIH World Cup at home.
