Hockey
Hockey India announces U-17 teams; Sardar Singh, Rani Rampal named coaches
The newly formed U-17 boys and girls national hockey teams will be coached by former senior team captains Sardar Singh and Rani Rampal respectively.
Rani Rampal and Sardar Singh are unveiled as the India U17 coaches (Pritish Raj/The Bridge)
Chennai: Hockey India announced the formation of the U-17 boys and girls national team with hockey legends Sardar Singh and Rani Rampal as the head coaches in a press conference on Thursday in Chennai.
Talking about the move, Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey said, “We have been trying new initiatives and coaching programs since coming into power. These programmes are for the youth and the grassroots. We want to strengthen grassroots, especially from the sub-junior level."
Former Indian captain and current selector Sardar Singh will don the hat of chief coach for the boy's team and Rani Rampal for the girl's team.
Thanking Sardar and Rani for accepting the proposal by Hockey India, Tirkey said that the motive behind the move is to identify talent at an early stage and also prepare an assembly line for the senior Indian teams.
Talking about this new initiative, Sardar Singh said, “Our focus used to be on senior teams and the sub-junior level is neglected most of the time. When kids come from the ground level, they take time to adjust in the senior team.”
"This system will help us produce an assembly line of players and when the national senior team will need someone, we will have multiple options to look at,” Sardar added further.
Rani Rampal believes that this new role will be challenging and exciting for her.
"I think my experience of playing at the top level will be helpful for the kids. I started playing at a very young age and the knowledge I have gathered on the journey will be helpful for the kids,” said Rani.
The initiative will start with a 45-day camp in Rourkela followed by an exposure tour in Europe where the teams will take on teams from countries like Belgium and Germany.
