Four foreigners show interest in coaching Hockey India League teams

New Delhi: Four foreign coaches, including India's newly-appointed chief coach Terence Walsh, have showed interest in taking up coaching roles in the second edition of the Hockey India League (HIL), starting January 23 next year. The other three coaches include India's first foreign coach Gerhard Rach, Ezequiel Paulon and Jacques Brinkman.

"It is good that Hero Hockey India League is able to draw the attention of the best hockey coaches in the world who are willing to be part of this prestigious league. The options of these foreign coaches are open for the franchises who wish to hire them," Hockey India (HI) secretary general and Hero Hockey India League Chairman Narinder Batra said in a release.

Australia's Walsh has worked as Technical Director with the USA field Hockey from 2005-2012. He pursued his coaching career in 1990 where he worked as head coach of the Malaysian national hockey team until 1994.

He also worked as head coach of the Australian national team from 1997-2000. In 2004, Walsh had worked as head coach of the Netherlands hockey team that won a silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games in the same year. He is an International Hockey Federation (FIH) Master Coach as well.

Germany's Rach has worked previously with the Egypt national team. In 2009, Rach further extended his experience in the sub-continent as he worked as coaching director in Bangladesh for two years. He has also worked as the High Performance Consultant with a Viennese (Australian) Club for two years.

Former Argentina coach Paulon worked as assistant coach with Argentina men's team for more than a year. For four years, he worked as Director of Argentina team consultants and was also the coach of LOHC (Holland Hockey Club) for one year.

Dutchman Brinkman has coached top hockey clubs, including Amsterdam Hockey Club (1998), SCHC (2004-2007 & 2010) and Laren (2008-2009) and is currently working with Zwolle Hockey Club in the Netherlands since 2010 as talent coach. As a player, he played 337 international matches for the Netherlands.