Hockey India on Tuesday named Harendra Singh as the chief coach of the Indian men's hockey team. He will take over from Sjoerd Marijne, who returns to his job as the chief coach of the women's team.
Harendra was appointed the coach of the women's team in September 2017 and saw them finish fourth at the recently concluded Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Last year, he had led the team to the Women's Asia Cup title in Japan.
During Marijne's first stint with the women's team, they had qualified for the Hockey World League Semi-Final. Marijne had earlier had a successful tenure with the Netherlands' women's team.
However, the Indian men's team under Marijne ended a disappointing fifth in Gold Coast, returning without a medal for the first time since the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Both Marine and Harendra expressed satisfaction about the new roles assigned to them. "I'm excited to reunite with the women's team and will look to focus on building on the good form exhibited by the team in last six months as we look forward to the Women's Hockey World Cup 2018," said Marijne.
Harendra said, "It is an honour for me to now manage the Indian men's hockey team. It has been a very satisfying journey with the Indian women's hockey team and I would like to thank Hockey India for entrusting me with the new role as we prepare ourselves for a very important season ahead."