New Delhi: Three-time Olympian Mukesh Kumar who has been sacked by Hockey India from position of junior national coach feels "insulted and humiliated" and feels that Narinder Batra-led organisation is no different from Indian Hockey Federation.
"I don't know what was the reason behind this decision. I have spent just 21 days with the team and we did well in Johor Bahru Cup. I feel humiliated," Mukesh told PTI Bhasha from Hyderabad.
"Hockey India is also working like KPS Gill led IHF. This is the second leg of my career and I want to make a mark as a coach but HI is not supportive," said Mukesh who has represented India in the 1992. 1996, 2000 Olympics.
What hurt Mukesh more was the fact that HI didn't even have the courtesy to inform him that Baljit Singh Saini has been appointed the junior India coach and will be in charge of the national camp starting in Bangalore from March 15.
"Hockey India did not even inform me about this. During the Olympic qualifiers in Delhi, HI general secretary Narinder Batra suggested to me that it would be better if I work with the senior team as Micheal Nobbs' understudy but I refused. And when I enquired about junior team's camp, they said that I have been removed," said the veteran who has played 307 international matches.
Mukesh was made the junior national coach after Harendra Singh left the job. Another thing that has Mukesh is Baljit's appointment as the latter is junior to him. He was game had some foreign coach or someone senior to him would have been appointed.
"A coach's job is technical one and I have been selected through proper process by HI's development committee headed by Pargat Singh. I would have no issues if any foreign coach or senior person had replaced me," he said.
The former midfielder who has scored eight goals in three editions of Olympic Games said that the agreement with HI was for a long-term contract. "I had told HI before my appointment that I wanted a tenure till 2013 and they agreed. I wanted to share my experience with the junior players and for that I needed time. I wanted to strengthen their basics," he concluded.
Comments
0 comment