Did Hockey India sack coach Nobbs or did he quit?

New Delhi: Michael Nobbs has been sacked. Or did the Hockey coach quit? As usual, the confusion remains at Hockey India. An India Today report says that Australian Nobbs has been unceremoniously sacked as Indian hockey team’s chief coach due to non-performance, thus becoming the fourth foreign coach to be shown the door before completion of the full tenure. Speaking to Mail Today, Jiji Thomson, director general, Sports Authority of India, said, “We have decided to terminate Mr Nobbs’s contract after a one month notice period. There is a clause in his contract for this and after my meeting with Hockey India today, this decision was taken.” Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra also said that Nobbs’ contract has been terminated and he is presently serving a one-month notice period. Roelant Oltmans, who is currently the High Performance Manager, has been given charge of the team until a new coach is appointed. [caption id=“attachment_941779” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s hockey coach Michael Nobbs has been sacked after just two years in the job. AFP[/caption] Batra, however, claimed it was the Australian who decided to quit as he felt that he was not doing justice to his job. “He himself had offered to resign during a meeting with Roelant Oltmans. There were some issues with his coaching style. Oltmans feel there were some areas in which we were lacking and Nobbs was not being able to rectify them and not producing the desired results,” Batra told PTI. “Accordingly, we have informed the SAI that we are not willing to avail his services anymore. For the time being Oltmans will take the additional responsibility of coach of the men’s team. He will be in charge of the team till we find a suitable replacement which might take 2 to 3 months time,” he added. Nobbs, who took over the charge in 2011, was offered a five-year contract and a handsome salary, but his association with Indian hockey lasted merely two years and finally ended on a bitter note. He has not made any official comment on the sacking or the resignation yet. Before Nobbs, Spaniard Jose Barsa, Australian Ric Charlesworth and Germany’s Gerhard Rach coached the Indian side but were pushed out due to several issues. Nobbs was looked upon as someone who can cure Indian hockey, but the Australian failed to change the fortunes of the past masters of the game. The only highlight of Nobbs’ tenure was India’s qualification for last year’s London Olympics after having missed the Beijing edition of the Games. But since then there was no significant change in the performance of the team as eight-time champions India returned with a wooden spoon from London Olympics. Nobbs came under further scrutiny after India failed to book a direct ticket for the World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands scheduled for May-June, 2014, finishing a lowly sixth out of eight teams in last month’s FIH World League semi-final at Rotterdam. Hinting that Hockey India was not impressed with Nobbs’ performance, Batra said it was a mutual decision to part ways with the Australian. Batra said there was no point in continuing with a coach who lacks motivation and commitment. “We felt he is not motivated anymore. He seemed to have been lacking in motivation as well as commitment. A national team can’t be coached by somebody who is not motivated and committed,” the HI secretary general said. “So we both parties felt it’s time for us to move on.” Batra said Nobbs is presently in his home country Australia and HI will give him a “graceful” farewell once he returns next week to settle his papers. “He is presently in Australia. He is coming back on July 14th. It is not that we are pushing him out. We will send him in a graceful manner,” he said. PTI