Hockey: Coach Sjoerd Marijne likely to be sacked for unimpressive show: Reports

New Delhi, April 28: Hockey India coach Sjoerd Marijne is likely to be sacked from his position after a consistently poor performance of the senior men's Indian Hockey team, reports on Friday (April 27) claim.

Sources told MyKhel that Hockey India is unhappy with the performance of the Indian Men's Hockey team under the Dutch coach's watch. India performed terribly in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018 and their performance in the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast was frustrating as the Men In Blue failed to get the podium finish.

Sreejesh to captain side till the end of 2018

The Indian Team, which is ranked sixth in the FIH rankings, finished fourth at Gold Coast as it lost the bronze medal game against England - whom they had defeated in the league stages. It was for the first time in 12 years when the men's hockey team returned medal-less from the Commonwealth Games.

Reports claim that the federation is going to hold a high-powered meeting in New Delhi on Saturday (April 28) where it is likely to have serious discussions on continuing with Marijne.

Reports further claimed that the players are also not happy with the 43-year-old coach's strategies, which according to players do not suit their style of play.

Narinder Batra, president of Indian Olympic Association, was apparently unhappy with the way team performed under Marijne in Gold Coast as Team India were billed as the gold medal contenders. The federation bosses had met several senior players a couple of days back and sought their views on the team's performance in Gold Coast.

An HI official was quoted by Asian Age as saying, "The Gold Coast performance was unsatisfactory and the players too had raised a number of concerns. Be it the coaching methods or team selection, there were many shortcomings.

"With so much money and effort being put into the team, results are expected. Some changes were needed but wait for the final decision."

Earlier this week, Batra, FIH president, met senior players including skipper Manpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh, SV Sunil, Rupinderpal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Chinglensana and Harmanpreet Singh in the capital to take stock of the situation. It is being learnt that the players told him that they weren't pleased with the way Marijne, who was given the responsibility of the team in September last year, was handling things.

On Friday (April 27), in a major reshuffle Hockey India hand over the reigns of the men's team to senior goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. The federation had further cleared that Sreejesh will be leading the team until the end of the year.

This means that the senior custodian will be leading the Indian side in the upcoming Champions Trophy, Asian Games and all important Hockey World Cup, which will be held in India.