LESLIE XAVIER

One has to commend Hockey India for its consistency --- at defying logic that is. While its tradition of sacking coaches out of the blue is well documented, the naming of the new men’s team coach --- Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne --- has taken the eccentricities to another level.

On Friday, Union sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, through a series of tweets, announced Sjoerd -- who has been in charge of the women’s national team -- as the new chief coach of the men’s squad. Harendra Singh, who led the junior boys to the World Cup title at home last year, has been appointed as the ‘high performance specialist coach’ of the senior women’s team.

The decisions were made by Hockey India in consultation with Sports Authority of India and the Sports Ministry.

While the appointment, coming days after it was announced that applications have been invited for the post of the men’s coach (left vacant after Roelant Oltmans was sacked unceremoniously last week), leaves a lot of grey, the logic or criteria behind Sjoerd’s selection is questionable, to put it mildly.

It seems Hockey India was in a rush to name a new coach and the simple logic applied here is to replace one Dutchman with another. One, despite trying hard, can’t find a better reasoning!

Sjoerd was in charge of the women’s squad --- ranked No 12 in the world --- since December last year. He took over from Neil Hawgood, who coached the team when they qualified for Rio Olympics, where they finished last.

The women’s team’s recent performances have been shaky as well -- with losses as frequent as victories, to say the least.

So, if Hockey India sacked Oltmans because the men’s team’s recent outings have been poor and his vision for the