The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, New Delhi

India resumed their search for a men's field hockey coach on Monday after the selected candidate opted to continue working with the women's side.

Former Olympian Maharaj Krishan Kaushik was appointed the national men's coach last Wednesday to replace Joaquim Carvalho, who quit in March after the former champions failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Five days later, Kaushik returned to his old job as the women's coach for which he is contracted until the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

"I am still the women's coach," said Kaushuk, 53, but declined to say why he had accepted the men's job last week, as claimed by members of the ad hoc committee running Indian hockey.

Former captain Dhanraj Pillay, one of the selectors to pick the men's coach, said he was surprised at the development.

"When we shortlisted the candidates, Kaushik did not tell us he did not want the job," said Pillay. "In fact, he seemed very enthusiastic to coach the men's team.

"We now have to look for someone else."

Media reports said the Indian Women's Hockey Federation had protested that it had not been informed of Kaushik's selection as men's coach.

"He is contracted with us till 2010, so how can he go anywhere else without informing us," women's official Amrit Bose was quoted as saying in the local media.

"But I am happy Kaushik is back with us now."

Kaushik was the men's coach when India won the Asian Games gold medal in Bangkok in 1998, its only major triumph in the last decade.

The row comes amid a tumultous period in Indian hockey which saw the eight-time champions miss out on the Olympics for the first time this year.

In April the Indian Olympic Association sacked the sport's administrators after an official was embroiled in a cash-for-selection scandal and constituted an ad hoc committee to run the game.

Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth quit his post as the Indian team's technical adviser in July and flew back home, reportedly unhappy with the way the ad hoc committee functioned.