Arnab Seal

While he has received lots of support from players and federations after coming out, FIH has sadly not reached out to him even once. While hoping things will change for the better, he does what he can do to help others and be there. #Hockey #LGBTQIA

Allow me to rephrase: AIFF has failed to run any of it's leagues in a timely manner. It hasn't ticked any boxes! Truncated seasons for both male & female footballers in the country is part of the reason for the NT's decline. No need to wait..the results are there for all to see.

Good to see the president of an Indian sports body be proactive with cases of sexual harassment! Important reporting from @arnabsTOI

After several complaints of harassment against coaches and officials in recent months, Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey has called for an emergency EB meeting to discuss the matters. #HockeyIndia #hockey

✍🏾Arsenal and hope... 🏆❤️ open.substack.com/pub/vinayakkm/… (Had to get some thoughts out of the system, so here goes...)

Mohinder Amarnath was not wrong in 1988 when he said the selectors are a bunch of jokers. #INDVAFG

HI president calls emergency meeting amid multiple sexual harassment complaints @arnabsTOI reports ✍️ timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/hockey/…

Arshdeep calling Tilak 'andhera' is colourism and it is a problem, not banter #IPL2026 espncricinfo.com/story/ipl-2026…

Punjab's #RurkaKalan village is training thousands of its players at a palatial, 7 acre, #SportsComplex with AC rooms, digital gym, indoor, outdoor stadiums & a multi-cuisine kitchen. @thetribunechd @jomalhotra @bariana_sanjeev @japs99 @RuchikaMKhanna @rajmeet1971 @deepkamal_6

For the first time in 94 years El Clásico decided the La Liga title. For the first time in 25 years, the Kolkata Derby on Sunday can decide league champions in India. Regardless of what anyone tells you, there’s nothing like the Derby in #IndianFootball

While @TheHockeyIndia has been quick in taking an action in this case, it is worrying why such things are frequently happening within the organization. #hockey

Hockey India removes support staff member from national camp over sexual misconduct allegations READ: toi.in/Y5ECWZ ✍️ @arnabsTOI #HockeyIndia

Another coach has been removed by Hockey India from its set-up over allegations of harrassing women players. He was currently with the U18 boys team. This comes after the Jharkhand govt sacked Sudhir Golla from its Eklavya centre in Ranchi earlier this week. #hockey

The amount of air the “Indian vs. Foreign” coaching debate has sucked out of the country is laughable. But it has pulled back the curtain on a truth we usually hide: the tussle between legacy and logic. In India, we treat an Olympic medal like an automatic pass to management. It isn’t. Coaching is a completely different beast, a mix of data analysis, periodization, and the psychological management of 20 different egos. It really wasn’t surprising that the moment Hockey India followed standard protocol by advertising for a qualified candidate, the narrative was twisted into an “insult.” Even before the candidate was named! We are all to blame for building this “National Chief Coach or Nothing” ecosystem. We’ve created a culture where legends feel it’s beneath them to be a state-unit assistant or a specialized coach. Look at Carl Lewis. In 2013, a man with nine Olympic gold medals, NINE, started as a volunteer assistant at the University of Houston. He spent nearly a decade as a full-time assistant before being named Head Coach in 2022. Lewis (and the American system) understood a fundamental truth: being the greatest sprinter on earth doesn’t mean you know how to teach sprinting. If you want to see how it’s done, look at the Irish Athletics model or the Belgian hockey revolution. They didn’t get to the top by handing the keys to their most famous faces. They built a “coach-the-coach” system, bringing in High-Performance Directors to create a unified tactical language that starts at the U-10 level. In those systems, you don’t get the job because of your resume as a player; you progress through a rigorous, data-driven pathway. This explains why the players stayed silent when Harendra Singh was sacked after the 2018 World Cup. Elite athletes are pragmatists. They recognized the structural upgrade that guys like Graham Reid or Craig Fulton brought: GPS tracking, sophisticated video analysis, and a tactical playbook that actually works in the modern era. No player is going to risk their career for “2010 tactics” in a 2026 game, regardless of the coach’s nationality. Actually, we already have a blueprint for the right way to do this at home. Take Rajinder Singh. An Olympic gold medallist who coached the men to an Asia Cup title and the 2001 Junior World Cup title. He didn’t demand a throne, he could have; he went back to the grassroots, coaching in Chandigarh and leading Punjab to a National Championship. He’s the missing link: a legend willing to plumb the depths at the foundational level. If the government steps in now and mandates Indian coaches just to satisfy a sentiment, it’ll be a hollow victory. Without an FIH-certified pathway where an Olympian must serve a three-year apprenticeship with a domestic or development side, we are just setting ourselves to fail. A coach who hasn’t been “coached to coach” will eventually be found out on the world stage. Look at Shane McLeod, a New Zealander. He was the architect of Belgium’s 2018 World Cup victory. For the 2023 World Cup, he didn’t demand the top spot; he returned as an assistant to Michel van den Heuvel. Belgium reached the final. That is what a professional system looks like. In an interview after winning the 2018 World Cup, Shane, said: “I know players who could have been on the team, but whom I didn’t select for that reason. Because they would put themselves above the team.” Similar thoughts in coaching! #indiavsforeigncoach #fakepatriotism #hockey #hockeyindia

UWW will allow Belarusian and Russian wrestlers to compete without restrictions at all upcoming UWW events uww.org/article/uww-li…

Qué chiquitos se vieron los grandes.

🚨 India’s fastest man Animesh Kujur will be in action in the men’s 200m tonight! India’s all-time fastest sprinter Animesh Kujur will compete in the men’s 200m final at the Saudi Athletics Grand Prix in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will be up against Toby Harries of Great Britain, who was part of the British 4x100m relay team that won bronze at the 2024 Summer Olympics and is the fastest athlete in the field. The race is scheduled to begin at 10:55 PM IST. #IndianAthletics #Athletics @afiindia #AthleticsIndia

THE STATE OF PLAY IN INDIAN FOOTBALL Open the shared document: acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc… Download the Adobe Acrobat Reader app: adobeacrobat.app.link/Hml5E7lC92b

Former India captain Jude Felix slams HI for the removal of PR Sreejesh. Believes once Sreejesh was chosen despite his lack of experience, he should have been given more time. #hockey #PRSreejesh

Express Investigation: A fund meant for India’s top athletes was used to upgrade sports facilities for bureaucrats - by bureaucrats. 🏊 Heated swimming pools 🎾 Tennis courts 🏸 Officers’ clubs All funded through National Sports Development Fund (NSDF). indianexpress.com/article/expres…

PR #Sreejesh’s ​statement regarding his removal as India’s junior men’s coach marks a surprising turn for a veteran whose career was built on the foundation provided by foreign coaches​ - Roelant Altmans, Terry Walsh, Graham Reid, Craig Fulton. While he pointedly criticized the shift back toward foreign coaching despite his recent podium finish, the optics are difficult to ignore. Sreejesh’s transition from Olympic goalkeeper to Junior India coach was a rare privilege, an appointment made straight from the field with zero formal coaching experience. ​For ​someone who won nearly 90% of his medals under the tutelage of foreign coaches, this sudden "India vs. Foreign" narrative ​is puzzling. ​Tagging influential figures to spark a nationalist debate over technical appointments ignores the very system that defined his ow​n status. I​t would have been wonderful if he had signed off saying it was a great opportunity coaching the juniors and that he would now take a crack at coaching a state side to national championships - which is the first rung to any form of coaching. #prsreejesh #hockey #hockeyindia