Dutchman Kruis appointed coach of India junior men and women's teams

Dutchman Herman Kruis is a famous name in the European hockey circles, having coached many a side for over two decades. Kruis will now be known in India too as Hockey India (HI) announced his appointment on Tuesday as the coach of the Indian junior men’s and women’s teams.

Kruis will oversee the preparation of both the Indian junior teams ahead of the Men’s Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur and the Women’s Junior World Cup in Santiago. The women’s tournament will be held from November 29 to December 10 while the men’s event will take place from December 5 to 16. Kruis will join the teams in Dusseldorf during the 4-nation U-21 tournament to be held from August 18 to 23.

Vastly experienced as a coach, Kruis, a certified coach-educator, has worked with the Dutch women’s club Den Bosch as head coach. During his tenure, the team won the European Cup eight times in a row. He was also head coach of the Netherlands indoor women’s hockey team between 2006 and 2008 and was coach of the Netherlands regular outdoor team from 2008 to 2010.

In his most recent stint, he was head coach of the Belarus indoor and outdoor teams from 2016 to August 2023.

“Hockey India is delighted to welcome distinguished senior coach Herman Kruis to our national programme for the junior teams. He will oversee the ongoing preparations of the junior men and women's teams and I believe his experience will further boost our prospects at the Junior Hockey World Cups. He will be working closely with Tushar Khandker, coach of India junior women, and CR Kumar, coach of India junior men,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said in a statement.

Kruis said, "I am looking forward to this new role. There are some very talented players in the Indian junior men’s and women's hockey teams. The next four months leading up to the Junior World Cups are exciting and at the same time an important phase in the teams’ preparations. I look forward to working with them to achieve the desirable results."