02 December,2025 10:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Ashwin Ferro
India women’s hockey coach Harendra Singh with the players during the Asian Champions Trophy in Rajgir, Bihar, in 2024. Pic/Hockey India
India women's hockey coach Harendra Singh stepped down from his position with immediate effect citing "personal reasons" on Monday.
However, it seems that it's the girls, who had a problem with him "getting a bit too personal."
It is learnt that some members of the women's team got together on Monday and met Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey and secretary general Bholanath Singh at the ongoing national camp in Bangalore and complained about Harendra's conduct. "Harendra was unnecessarily getting too personal with the girls. He would comment on their clothes and inquire about their boyfriends. He would also not want them to be on the phone and would get intrusive with video calls. While Harendra is known to be aggressive as a coach and that can also include being abusive at times, it's his constant questioning and probing that eventually got to the girls," a source told mid-day.
Harendra, who previously coached the USA men's hockey team, had taken over the Indian women's team's reins from two-time Olympic medallist Janneke Schopman of the Netherlands in April last year.
In the past, he has also coached the Indian men's senior team besides coaching the Indian junior men's team to the FIH Jr World Cup title at Lucknow in 2016. Under Harendra, 56, the Indian women's team won the Asian Champions Trophy title in Rajgir, Bihar, last year.
According to sources, whenever the girls felt uncomfortable with Harendra's line of questioning, he would turn around and say, "You are like my daughters." This, it is learnt, would only further enrage the girls, who have told the higher ups, "We don't need a father, we need a coach."
After tendering his resignation, Harendra said via a Hockey India release that he was privileged to coach the women's national team. "Though personal reasons call me to step away, my heart remains with this extraordinary team and their ongoing success. I will always cherish my journey with Hockey India and continue to support their efforts to take Indian hockey to the highest levels of achievement," said Harendra.
Accepting the resignation, Hockey India president Tirkey said: "We thank Harendra for his services. His commitment towards the development of Indian hockey is well known. We will soon start the process of appointing a new coach. There were some complaints from players about his high handedness and strict attitude, but this was not the issue behind his resignation."
Harendra's report card with this women's team makes for a disappointing read. Other than winning the Asian Champions Trophy at home, the team had no other achievement. In fact, having won just two of their 16 matches at the FIH Pro League 2024-25, the Indian women finished ninth, confirming their relegation to next year's FIH Nations Cup.
"Hockey India were also not too pleased with Harendra's performance, considering his monthly salary is more than one million rupees, so the pressure on him was building any way. It was better for him to step down rather than be sacked," said the source.
According to PTI, Dutch tactician Sjoerd Marijne, who was head coach of the Indian women's team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, could return as chief coach. Marijne had resigned as head coach of the women's team in August 2021.
