Former Indian captain Tushar Khandker was named the new coach of the Junior Indian Women’s hockey team on Tuesday.
He will look over the preparations for the FIH Women’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 in Santiago, Chile, which is scheduled to take place from 29th November to 10th December.
Tushar Khandker has accumulated an impressive coaching CV in the past few years.
Between 2014 and 2016, he was part of the Indian Men’s Team in the capacity of Coach and has tasted numerous feats, including a historic Champions Trophy 2016 Silver Medal in London, a Gold at Asian Champions Trophy, a Bronze at the World Hockey League 2015 in Raipur among others. He was also part of the team’s coaching staff for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
In his recent stint as Chief Coach Janneke Schopman’s deputy for the Women’s side, Khandker helped the team prepare for the Asian Champions Trophy 2021 in South Korea; they also played the Asia Cup, Oman in 2022, where the team won Bronze and also qualified for the World Cup.
He was also part of the Women’s Team support staff for their maiden FIH Pro League 2021-22 season. In recent years, Khandker has also pursued FIH Level 1 course apart from Hockey India’s Coaches Education Pathway Level Basic, Level 1, and Level 2.
Elated on arriving in SAI, Bengaluru, where the Junior Women’s Core Probable Group is based, Khandker said, “I am grateful to Hockey India for entrusting me with this responsibility. I have always been inclined towards coaching after my playing career. Over the years, I have worked under some renowned coaches in world hockey and have learned a lot working with them. I look forward to using my knowledge of the sport to help these young and talented players to elevate their performance in international hockey.” –
The Junior Indian women’s team won their first-ever Asia Cup earlier this month under the tutelage of Janeke Schopman and qualified for the upcoming Junior World Cup.
By The Bridge
