Who is Harendra Singh - set to be reappointed India women's hockey coach

Barring official confirmation, Harendra Singh is set to replace Janneke Schopman as coach of the Indian women’s hockey team. The reported reason for the delay is due to the model code of conduct being in place for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

The reason for Model Code of Conduct affecting the big announcement is because Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey is a candidate in the upcoming elections. The former India player is a Biju Janta Dal candidate and set to contest from Sundargarh constituency in Odisha.

As per reports, Harendra played a role in pruning the preliminary 60-member assessment squad down to a core group of 33 players during the trials held on 6-7 April.

Who is Harendra Singh?

Harendra Singh, a 2012 Dronacharya Award winner, has previously coached various Indian teams, including the senior men and women’s sides for over two decades. He was leading the USA men’s national team, since 2021, before ending that stint and returning home to take over the women’s side.

He was also on hand to help the USA women’s team qualify for the Paris Olympics. Incidentally, USA defeated India to book their spot in the quadrennial event.

Guided by Tony Fernandes who recognised his potential to become a good coach, Harendra started his career on the sidelines with French club HC Lyon in 1995. Following his tenure in France, he returned to India and served in various coaching and managerial capacities for national senior and junior teams across prestigious events like the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2005 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup, 2006 Men’s Hockey World Cup, 2006 Asian Games, 2009 Men’s Hockey Asia Cup, and 2010 Men’s Hockey World Cup.

After taking on the role of head coach of the Indian junior team in 2014, the 1990 Asian Games medallist led the team to victory at the 2016 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup. His success continued as he was appointed head coach of the India women’s national hockey team in September 2017, guiding them to a gold medal at the 2017 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup.

In May 2018, Singh succeeded Sjoerd Marijne as head coach of the men’s national team. Marijne had transitioned to coaching the women’s team instead. This appointment marked as milestone moment with Singh becoming the first Indian to hold the full-time role of men’s team head coach since 2008.

Despite previous interim coaching stints, Singh’s official tenure began with a silver medal at the 2018 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy, where the team narrowly lost the final to Australia in a shootout.

However, following challenging performances in other tournaments in 2018, Singh was relieved of his duties as head coach in January 2019. Despite being offered the position of head coach for the men’s junior team, Singh declined the opportunity.

As a player, Singh debuted for India at the 1990 Asian Games, where India won a silver medal. He played 43 matches for the country before retiring at just 26 years old citing “too much politics in hockey.”