Coach Graham Reid’s big step after the Indian hockey team’s defeat in the World Cup, resignation submitted to Hockey India
New Delhi. Indian men’s hockey team head coach Graham Reid and two other members of the support staff have resigned following a poor show in the World Cup. Hockey India has accepted the resignation of the head coach. The Indian team missed the quarterfinal match of the Hockey World Cup 2023. Since then the team was being criticized. Head coach Graham Reid was blamed by many veterans for the team’s failure.
Significantly, the Indian team, which won a historic bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics, could not make it to the quarter-finals in the World Cup held in Odisha and finished ninth. Apart from Reid, analysis coach Greg Clarke and scientific advisor Mitchell David Pemberton have also resigned. According to a statement issued by Hockey India, Reid submitted his resignation to Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey a day after the World Cup was over. Tirkey and Hockey India general secretary Bholanath Singh met Reid and other support staff to discuss the team’s performance. Please tell that Reid’s contract was till 2024 Paris Olympics but he had already resigned.
Apart from Reid, Clarke and David also resigned on Monday morning. All three will remain in the notice period for the next month. Reed said it was time for me to step down and hand over the reins to new management. It was a pleasure working with this team and Hockey India. I enjoyed every moment of this wonderful journey. Best wishes to the team for the future. With Reid and his team, India won the Olympic bronze medal after 41 years.
Apart from this, the team secured silver in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and third place in the FIH Pro League 2021-22 season. The Indian team won the FIH World Series Finals in 2019 when Reid was the coach. After this, he qualified for the Tokyo Games by winning the Olympic qualifiers in Bhubaneswar. Reid had accepted the position of head coach of the Indian team in the year 2019. Accepting the resignations of all three including Reid, Hockey India President Tirkey said that India will always be indebted to Graham Reid and his team who gave us good results. Especially in the Olympic Games. There are new milestones in every journey and now we also have to move forward with a new thinking for the team.
