RAJGIR: It’s not every day that one gets a chance to coach the national team in an international tournament being hosted in his or her state. But that’s exactly what’s going to happen when the Indian team, coached by Harendra Singh, takes the field against Malaysia in the Asian Champions Trophy at the Rajgir Sports Complex here on Monday.
The coach, who hails from Chhapra, Bihar, sounded more than excited at getting this opportunity and couldn’t hold back his joy during the press conference on Sunday afternoon.
“There are very few coaches in India who have had the privilege of coaching the Indian team in their birthplace. As far as I remember, only V Baskaran Sir and the Late MK Kaushik Bhai were there,” reminisced coach Harendra. “This is a matter of great happiness for me, and I want to thank the Bihar govt and Hockey India for giving me this platform and opportunity to start with this team and look forward to the future.”
Although Harendra had taken over the team earlier and the team had competed at the European leg of 2023-24 FIH Pro League under his guidance, this will be Harendra’s first proper tournament and he cannot wait to make it a fruitful one.
Not only himself, he wants to make it successful for his state, too.
After all, this is going to be the first time that the state will host an international hockey tournament which is likely to usher in a new era of sports. It did host the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup in 2012 in Patna but it was not of this stature.
And this might not have been possible had it not been for the Rajgir Sports Complex which was conceptualised after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar envisioned it way back in 2012.
“The govt of Bihar under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar decided to develop sports in the state in a big way. And his one-line mandate to us was that he wanted a sports movement to happen in Bihar. So that was the beginning,” said Ravindran Sankaran, director general, Bihar State Sports Authority, during an interaction with TOI.
While the movement has certainly begun, it has a long way to go but nothing seems impossible with the complete support of the chief minister. This will not only help the youngsters of the state but will also earn the government a lot of support from various sectors and it’s something that Harendra wants everyone to make good use of.
“Bihar has changed after 75 years, and now it’s about changing mindsets. Hockey will initiate this change. So, I request everyone to take full advantage of the facilities provided by the Bihar govt and represent the state and the country proudly in the Olympics one day,” added the Indian coach.
Harendra’s words hopefully won’t fall on deaf ears and the youth of the state will start seeing sports as their future one day. For now, though, he will be more than eager to see his team get off to a good start as they take on Malaysia in their opener on Monday.
