Chief coach Graham Reid, along with his foreign support staff, has resigned following Indian team’s disastrous showing in the Hockey World Cup which concluded here last night.
Though it was on the cards that Reid and his staff will have to go after the team’s poor performance, that he will quit in less than 24 hours came as a surprise.
Talking about his stint with the Indian side since 2019, Reid said, “It’s now time for me to step aside and handover the reigns to the next management. It has been an honour and privilege to work with the team and Hockey India and I have enjoyed every moment of this epic journey. I wish the team all the very best.”
Prior to this development, Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey along with with secretary general Bholanath Singh met with players and the support staff of the team to understand and analyse the team’s performance and strategy for the way ahead.
The Analytical Coach Greg Clark and Scientific Advisor Mitchell David Pemberton also tendered their resignation on Monday morning.
The Hockey India while promptly accepting Reid’s signation along with Greg and Mitchell’s, praised the Australian for his contribution to the game in the country.
“India will always have gratitude towards Graham Reid and his team of support staff who have brought good results to the country, particularly the Olympic Games. As all journeys move to different phases, it is now time for us to move on towards a new approach for our team,” Tirkey said after accepting the resignation.
Reid and his team of support staff have been part of the Indian Team’s Bronze Medal win at the Tokyo olympics, Silver at CWG, as well as securing third place in the FIH Hockey Pro League season in 2021/22.
Among his successful outing as Chief Coach with the team includes the FIH Series Final title victory in 2019, subsequently the team broke no sweat in making the qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 when they won the Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar back.
Hockey India now has his task cut out to find a suitable replacement for Reid as Asian Games are eight months away and these games will be part of the Olympic qualifiers. India will to win at Asian Games to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics.