Indian hockey coach Ajay Kumar Bansal is likely to become the sixth fulltime overseas to take charge of the Bangladesh national hockey team given the coach and the Bangladesh Hockey Federation reach a conclusion over the appointment in the near future.
BHF is hoping to rope in Ajay with a reported salary of the $3,000 per month while the versatile coach is demanding $3,500 and a few more conveniences. Mamunur Rashid, former national skipper and current member of BHF ad-hoc committee, is in the center of the bilateral conversation and he is hopeful of a successful conclusion. Mamun pointed out a number of reasons that he feels prompted the BHF to rope Ajay in.
“Firstly, I want to say that Ajay has a good idea about Bangladesh’s hockey as he have seen Bangladesh play in many tournaments.
Secondly he has been involved with the development program of the Indian hockey for a long time and can work as the technical advisor apart from being the national coach and thirdly, he has worked as the coach of both the junior and senior Indian hockey teams. He has proved his worth as a flamboyant coach in the recently concluded Hockey India League,” said Mamun.
The history of Bangladesh’s foreign hockey coaches is not very long as only five individuals have previously worked as full time coaches since the independence. Back in 1978, Pakistani Olympian Saeed Anwar was the first coach of the national team and he took the team to the Asian Games. In 1988, a Dutch coach named Eric, who came to Bangladesh under the bilateral cultural deal, had a brief stint with the national side.
German coach York Schumacher then took the rein in 2001 and he was followed by Pakistani Qamar Ibrahim in 2005. Another German Rach Gerhard Peter was officially appointed in 2010 who however took over one the job unofficially a year ago.
Apart from these names, Pakistanis Tahir Zaman and Kamran Ashraf with Michelle Keenan of Belgium have worked as advisory coaches with the national team.
Ajay guided the Indian youth team to Junior Asia Cup title in 2008 and was in the helm of the national team in the 2008 Azlan Shah Cup where India finished runners-up. Many of the current Indian national hockey players including Dilip Tirkey and Deepakj Thakur are his direct students.
He also won the title of the Premier Hockey League with Orissa Steelers.
Ajay is also said to be habitually tuned to spot talents at young age and grooming them from the beginning of their career.
