Australia Olympian Ric Charlesworth's appointment as Technical Adviser/Director of the Indian Hockey Federation, under the IOC Solidarity Programme, will be announced in New Delhi on Friday by the FIH despite the Government of India not clearing it.
IHF sources said the official announcement of the Aussie's appointment would be made by the FIH president.
FIH office-bearers and board members are presently busy with various committee meetings being hosted by the Indian Hockey Confederation and government.
However, Charlesworth, who arrived in Chennai on Wednesday morning from
Bangalore, was unavailable for comment. He checked in to a city hotel today and is expected to leave for Delhi on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Joaquim Carvalho, chief coach of the Indian team, which is undergoing a preparatory camp at the SAI Centre, Bangalore, said his meeting with the legendary Aussie on Tuesday was cordial and the two exchanged information on both Indian and Australian systems of coaching.
Reiterating that Charlesworth will not interfere with the coaching of the Indian senior team till the Beijing Olympics is over, Carvalho said, "Ric enquired mostly about the selection process of the under-16 and 18 players, as to the system of picking the probables for the camp for senior and junior teams, the role of selectors, besides the tours to be arranged for the team before they embark on the qualifying event in Santiago."
He said the Australian also wanted to know "how many probables we generally have for camps and what software we use for video graphing of training sessions, besides the number of coaching staff".
Carvalho explained that the system of selecting Indian players for age group categories (developmental teams) and junior and senior teams are on the same lines as in vogue in Australia.
"My discussion with Ric was transparent. In fact, two sports scribes were also present during the discussions. I had told him that the chief coach and other team management has the final say in finalising the team once the selectors pick them for all categories. The selectors, like in Australia, watch the matches of players for assessments," he said.
"We have educated and knowledgeable people with vision in India and the players for age-group categories are selected after assessing their performances in annual national events."
Carvalho said he also requested Charlesworth to arrange tours for the Indian senior team before the qualifying event in Santiago.
Giving the tour proposals, Carvalho said, "It has been decided that we play matches with teams like Argentina, France and New Zealand before the qualifying events in Auckland from Feb 2 to 10."
India will be engaged in the Chile qualifying event from March 1 to 9, 2008.
Before the tour of New Zealand, the Indian team will play a series of matches in India soon after the Indian Professional League (Dec 5-Jan 15) against visiting Belgium, who have already qualified for the Beijing Olympics.
"If need be, the team will also play a few matches against the Western Australian team before the Chile qualifier," Carvalho added.
