Ex-Aussie captain attempts to revive Indian hockey

New Delhi: Ex-Australia captain Ric Charlesworth wants to help India revive a glorious tradition in field hockey that included six successive Olympic gold medals.

Charlesworth, captain of the Australian team that won the 1986 World Cup, has taken up an assignment to structure a high performance program for Indian hockey.

Winner of eight Olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1980 - including six in a row from '28 to '56 - Indian hockey has been in decline in the past couple of decades, failing to qualify for the semi-finals of six consecutive Olympics since 1984.

India have also fallen short of making the semi-final in eight successive World Cups after winning the title in 1975.

India's decline has even worried the International Field Hockey Federation (FIH), which considers Indian hockey critical for the sport's future.

"Getting someone from outside to have a look at Indian hockey has been long overdue," said Charlesworth on Saturday.

After his playing days, Charlesworth became a very successful coach.

It was during his coaching stint that Australia's women's team became a dominant outfit, winning several World Cup, Olympic and Champions Trophy titles.

"I hope I can be a catalyst for a shift in India's performance," said Charlesworth.

Charlesworth's appointment is part of the "Project Promoting Indian Hockey" launched by the FIH in association with the Indian Hockey Confederation and the Indian Olympic Association.

"I'm often asked what's the main problem with Indian hockey," said Charlesworth. "There's no one problem, it's multifaceted. You need to improve in multidimensional ways."

"My job is to build something sustainable. It's scope is the global picture, everything that happens in India," he said.

Charlesworth said Indians played hockey in a very artistic and attractive manner, but they must also produce good results. "The way India plays hockey is the way people like to see it being played," he said.

He said he would spend time assessing how Indian hockey worked, including the selection process.

"I anticipate spending a lot of time with the coaches at different levels," said Charlesworth, who was New Zealand Cricket Board's high-performance director before taking up the Indian hockey assignment.