Baskaran appointed High Performance Manager for South Zone

Former India coach Vasudevan Baskaran has been appointed as High Performance (HP) Manager for the South Zone region and will work under HP Director Roelant Oltmans to improve the standard of the game in the country.
Baskaran, sacked as India chief coach in 2007 following team's string of poor performances, was brought to the fold by Hockey India last year when he was appointed assistant to then head coach Michael Nobbs.
"He will be working in the direction of implementing the Hockey India development programme for men and women at the grassroots level including school, college and district level hockey in the South Zone of the country," said Hockey India in a statement.

The statement added: "Baskaran will closely work with state units to ensure consistency and delivery of High Performance coaching programmes. Also, he will monitor and evaluate the performance of coaches in member units and academies and identify the talent for elite coaching opportunities.
Baskaran takes charge on July 1. The South Zone comprises Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Puducherry, Telangana and Seemandhra.
Speaking on his appointment, Baskaran said, "I thank Hockey India for giving me an opportunity to work in the grassroots of South Zone."

He had famously led India to an Olympic gold in the 1980 edition in Moscow.

He represented India in 287 matches including the 1976 Montreal Olympics, World Cups in 1973 Amsterdam (Silver) and in 1978 Buenos Aires, Asian Games in 1974 Tehran (Silver) and in 1978 Bangkok (Silver) and 1978 Champions Trophy in Pakistan (Bronze).
He coached India for 187 matches including the 2000 Sydney Olympics (Sydney), World Cups in 1998 in Utrecht and 2006 in Germany, Asian Games 2006 in Doha, Junior World Cup in 1997 in Milton Keynes (Silver) and Champions Trophy in 1997 in Chennai.