Harendra should be given more time: Merwyn

BHUBANESWAR: Despite India’s loss to Netherlands in the quarters, former India forward Merwyn Fernandes feels there shouldn’t be any big change in the team setup. Since 2009, the head coach’s position has been a musical chair of sorts with as many as seven coaches being tried out at the helm of the men’s national team, mainly at the whims and fancies of Hockey India officials.

With a 1-2 defeat to the Dutch at the Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday, current coach Harendra Singh may have to feel the heat. But Fernandes is of the opinion that Hockey India should avoid a knee-jerk reaction and persist with Singh.

“Let us not make any drastic changes, this is a young side. I am proud of the way our players performed (in the World Cup). We also have a great batch warming the bench and waiting for their chances,” said Fernandes, who was a member of the India team which won gold in 1980 Olympics at Moscow. He was speaking on the sidelines of an event by Association of International Sports Press-sports Journalists Federation of India (AIPS-SJFI).

“One loss doesn’t make you a bad coach. There must be a specific time frame given to any coach to build his team. It’s unfortunate that we have lost many good coaches in the past few years but I believe every coach should get at least more than a couple of years.” Fernandes, however, refused to side with Singh, who blamed umpiring errors for his side’s narrow loss in last-eight.

“We also went through times where some decisions went against us but as professionals we need to be mentally strong. Personally, there were some decisions which I believe were unfairly against us but we need to take that in our stride.”