Hockey India appoints Tushar Khandker as India women’s junior team coach

Khandekar will join the Junior Women’s Core Probable Group at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru.

FILE PHOTO: Former Indian hockey player Tushar Khandekar, representing Bharath Petroleum, during a practice session in Bengaluru on August 15, 2017. | Photo Credit: G.P. Sampath Kumar/The Hindu

Hockey India on Tuesday named former India captain Tushar Khandker as a coach for the junior women’s team as it prepares for the FIH Women’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2023, which will be held in Santiago, Chile, from 29th November to 10th December.

Khandekar will join the Junior Women’s Core Probable Group at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru.

A deputy of senior women’s team chief coach Janneke Schopman, Khandker has developed a strong portfolio as a coach over the last decade. Between 2014 and 2016, he was part of the Indian men’s team in the capacity of a coach when the team won the Champions Trophy silver medal in London, a gold medal at the Asian Champions Trophy, and a bronze at the World Hockey League. He was also part of the Indian coaching staff at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Khandker, who pursued FIH Level 1 course apart from Hockey India’s Coaches Education Pathway Level Basic, Level 1 and Level 2, was also part of the coaching staff of the senior women’s team at the 2021 Asian Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in 2022 where the team won a bronze medal and qualified for the World Cup.