Aussie coaches want rough play to be curbed

Sydney: As hosts Australia prepare to take on Asian Games champions India in men's hockey competitions in Sydney Olympics on Tuesday, both the Australian men's and women's coaches have asked for more stringent measures to curb rough play in hockey.

Terry Walsh, Australian men's coach, has asked the referees in Tuesday's crucial group 'B' encounter to prevent rough play by being extra vigilant against the negative tactics employed by the players.

Australia's matches against the teams from India and Pakistan have often left bad after-taste as violence tends to erupt in these tightly-contested games and the Tuesday game is likely to be one such no-prisoners-taken encounter.

Kookaburras' captain Michael York had suffered serious ankle injury in a warm-up match against Pakistan a month back. Few other Australians had also suffered injuries in those three bad-tempered encounters.

One of Australian defenders, Stephen Holt was also injured in a match against India a year back. His head was split open by an Indian defender's stick. Indian management had said that it was an accident but TerryWalsh has always considered it as an deliberate act of aggression on the Indians' part.

"How does a guy who's six foot four get a cut above the eye?" Walsh asked at the time. The nightmarish memories of such incidents must have been troubling him as on Monday he asked for extra surveillance in the match against India.

"Body contact is one of the biggest problems that occurs in the game today," Walsh said while speaking to the reporters. "Australian players know what's deliberate and what's not and the fair bumps need to be let go but you have to stop the unfair clashes with body or sticks, and particularly sticks," he added.

Walsh expects the match against India to be close. "I don't expect any quarter to be given or to give any," he said on Tuesday. In spite of winning each and every conceivable hockey tournament on this planet open to them, Kookaburras have failed to win the top honors in the Olympics.

The Sydney Olympics seems to be their best bet to win the hockey gold medal in men's competitions. With tremendous home ground and crowd advantage behind them, the Australians do not want this opportunity to slip out of their hands hence the team management would not appreciate if one of their premier player is injured at this stage.

Unlike men's record, Australia have won two Olympics gold medals in women's hockey since the introduction of this event at Moscow Olympics in 1980.

But violent, rough play seems to be troubling women's hockey too as Ric Charlesworth, the legendary Australian hockey coach for the women, also raised the need for preventive measures against injuries in hockey.

Terry Walsh must have become alarmed about the possibility of one of his player getting injured against India on Tuesday as Malaysian players CalvinFernandez and Kuhan Shanmuganathan got injured in the drawn match against the defending champions Holland.

Shanmuganathan was taken off on a stretcher and had to receive stitches on his face. He may have to sit out in the next few group 'A' matches of his side.

India Abroad News Service