IWHF angry at Kaushik's appointment as Men's coach, terms it illegal

New Delhi, Sep 18 (UNI) The Indian Women Hockey Federation (IWHF) today reacted angrily to the appointment of Olympian M K Kaushik's appointment as the chief coach of the men's team terming it ''illegal''.

IWHF secretary Amrit Bose made it clear that her federation is not going to take this decision lying down and said the issue will be taken up at its Annual General Body meeting (AGM) here on Saturday.

''I was surprised and angry over the ad-hoc committee's decision to make Kaushik, who was incharge of the women's team, as men's coach,'' Ms Bose said.

Talking to UNI, a fuming Ms Bose said, ''I was taken by surprise when I came to know about Kaushik's appointment as men's team coach.

''It was a news to me as neither the ad-hoc committee consulted us nor Kaushik told us anything that he wants to leave. I came to know about it after reading the morning paper,'' Ms Bose said.

''We are holding our AGM on September 20 and now when this issue has come up, we are going to discuss it in the meeting with all the members and come out with a solution unanimously,'' she noted.

She asserted that it was the IWHF which took up Kaushik's case and got him here on deputation from his employer, the Haryana Sports Department.

''We have been trying for his (Kaushik's) deputation for the last two years. We have been fighting with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for long and now when SAI has cleared everything, how can the ad-hoc committe name him the men's team coach without consulting us?,'' she added.

''He still has a contract with us, we haven't released him.

They cannot take any decision without our permission,'' she asserted.

Kaushik, who was the coach of India's men team which won the 1998 Asian Games Gold medal, has been with women's hockey team as a coach for quiet some time. He was the coach of the team which earned a silver in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

On the other hand, ad-hoc selection committee Chairman Ajit Pal Singh tried to make light of the controversy saying there are no differences with the IWHF.

He, however, said, ''I think we don't need to take any permission from them on this matter. We just gave Kaushik the offer and he accepted it because he thought that it is more challenging.'' ''If IWHF need our help in finding a coach or say any other matter, we are ready to help them,'' he added.

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