New Delhi: Australian Graham Reid is set to be named the Indian men’s hockey team chief coach till the 2022 World Cup after the national federation and the Sports Authority of India gave their go ahead to fill the position lying vacant for nearly three months.
Reid’s name was finalised in a meeting between Hockey India and SAI officials Tuesday. He was picked over a number of candidates, including Jay Stacy, another Australian and a three-time Olympic medallist.
Reid’s name has been forwarded to the Sports Ministry for a final approval and according to a source in the ministry, an official announcement would be made by the end of this week.
The Indian men’s team is without a chief coach after the unceremonious sacking of Harendra Singh in January following a less-than-impressive quarterfinal exit at the World Cup in Bhubaneswar last year.
A veteran of 130 international matches, Reid was a member of the Australian team that won the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. A disciple of the legendary Ric Charlesworth, Reid was his assistant in the Australian team for five years before being elevated to the top position in 2014.
He was Australia’s coach at the 2016 Rio Olympics but quit after the Kookaburras failed to finish on the podium.
In 2017, Reid took up the post of head coach of his former club Amsterdam as well as assistant coach of the Netherlands team. But earlier this month, he was dismissed as Amsterdam coach following which speculations started about him taking up the India job.
Even though Reid would be given a long rope till 2022, a federation source said qualifying for next year’s Tokyo Olympics would be the Australian’s biggest test and his future with India would depend on it.
Reid is expected to draw a salary of USD 12,000 per month.
Once finalised, Reid is expected to join next month after the conclusion of the ongoing Azlan Shah Cup, where India are playing under High Performance Director David John and analytical coach Chris Ciriellom both of whom are also Australian.
PTI