HI appoint MK Kaushik as High Performance Manager
Hockey India sign up former India coach for Central Zone
New Delhi: Hockey India on Monday appointed former India coach M K Kaushik as the High Performance Manager for the Central Zone. "Mr. Kaushik, who was the coach of the Indian Men Hockey team that won Gold medal at the recently concluded 17th Asian Games 2014 in Incheon, South Korea will be seen in a new role from 1 November 2014," HI said in a statement. Kaushik will monitor all domestic activities in the central zone comprising Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
"He will be responsible towards teaching the coaches of academy and states' players the right techniques which in turn will help develop the players in the long run."
Hockey India had earlier appointed V Baskaran for the south zone and Sukhvir Singh Grewal for the north zone.
The Manager High Performance of each zone will work under Director, High Performance Roelant Oltmans and will also monitor and evaluate the performance of coaches in Hockey India Member Units and Academies and identify the talent for elite coaching opportunities. In consultation with Director High Performance, Kaushik will create, maintain and develop technical content for dissemination.
Speaking on Kaushik's appointment, Hockey India President Narinder Batra said, "Mr. Kaushik is a great resource for Indian Hockey, who has valuable experience and in-depth knowledge of the sport.
"The experience that he carries of the game, made us realise that he needs to be given larger roles as it will prove beneficial in our efforts to develop the game and the players in the central zone of the country. This initiative will further help us to not only identifying talent at grass root level but also minutely monitor such players in their development."
Speaking on the new role Kaushik said, "I am looking forward to my new role as High Performance Manager. It is a positive step forward for the betterment of the sport in the country at grassroots level.
"This initiative of Hockey India will help to boost the infrastructure of hockey in the country and will be helpful in identifying the right talent. I am confident that Hockey India's plan of introducing their High Performance Coaching Programme in the country will take the sport to different level."