After Graham Reid's resignation, Hockey India has named David John and BJ Kariappa as the interim coaches of the men's side for the upcoming FIH Pro League matches in Rourkela. The two will be assisted by Shivendra Singh. The team will play the Pro League in Rourkela under the interim coaches till the new chief coach will be appointed.
The appointment comes after India's hockey support staff resigned from its post, following a horror show in the Hockey World Cup. Chief coach Graham Reid, analytical coach Gregg Clark and scientific advisor Mitchell Pemberton left their posts after the World Cup in January 2023.
Notably, Australia's John was a former high-performance director of the Indian team, while Kariappa was a junior Indian team coach. The two will lead India in the March leg of the FIH Pro League. “At the Pro League in Rourkela, the team will play under interim coaches until Hockey India (HI) announces the new chief coach,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said on Monday.
John and Kariappa are employed by the Odisha sports department, where John works as a director of Hockey (Odisha), while Kariappa was made a chief coach of Odisha. John joined the Indian coaching staff in 2011 when he was a physio, before leaving in 2012. He made a retunr in 2016, becoming the high-performance director. He left that post in 2020 and joined the Odisha sports department in 2022. Kariappa left his junior coaching role the previous year and joined the Odisha department.
India's first match of the March leg will be against Germany on March 10, while they will face Australia on March 12. The third match of the Indian team will be on March 13, against Germany, before playing the final game on March 15 against Australia. HI announced a young Indian team that will be led by Harmanpreet Singh. PR Sreejesh has found his place while Krishan Bahadur Pathak is not included as he sought leave for personal reasons.
India's squad:
PR Sreejesh, Pawan, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Manjeet, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, S Karthi, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh
