New Delhi, May 17 -- Hockey great PR Sreejesh has raised one of the most controversial topics in Indian sport. By not renewing his contract despite an impressive one-and-a-half-year record as coach of the junior India team, Hockey India has dealt Sreejesh a hard hand, which he hasn't taken kindly. "The Hockey India President stated that the chief coach of the senior men's team (Craig Fulton) prefers a foreign head coach for the junior team, believing it will help develop Indian hockey from the junior level through to the senior level. Hence, the continued preference for foreign coaches - Can't Indian coaches develop Indian hockey?" the two-time Olympic medallist asked. That's a question many Indian coaches have asked. It's a topic that has at times created a deep divide between Indian and foreign coaches. Indian sports administrators prefer foreign coaches for their expertise in sports science and high-performance training methods but they have also been shortsighted in not trusting Indian coaches enough. Often, athletes also find themselves drawn into the battle between Indian and foreign coaches. The yardsticks are very different too. A foreign coach is given a long rope, even when the team's performance dips. The controversial exit of women's hockey coach Janneke Schopman is a case in point. Schopman took the reins from Sjoerd Marijne after the women's team's high of a fourth-place finish in Tokyo and despite a series of abysmal performances, HI stuck with her. They brought in Harendra Singh to rebuild the team, only to now go back to Marijne. Similar baffling decisions in hiring foreign coaches have come from the Boxing Federation of India. Bernard Dunne's controversially left just before the Paris Olympics qualifier and with the men's team struggling. The team went to Paris under another Irish coach Dmitry Dmitruk, who had little coaching pedigree, and returned empty-handed. Now BFI has brought back Santiago Nieva, under whom India competed in Tokyo, for the women's team while the men's team continues to struggle. One of India's best boxing coaches Bhaskar Bhatt, who took over in the intervening period and built the women's team with four medals to show at the 2023 World Championships, found himself sidelined once Dunne took over. "I can understand what Sreejesh has gone through. Our federations do not place faith in Indian coaches, and when it comes to foreign coaches they are allowed to do whatever they want with no accountability fixed," Bhatt told HT. "The foreign coach just wanted me to be there and say yes to everything he is doing. I had questions about the assessment tests being introduced, about the national camp policy which he completely changed. I was being targeted for speaking up so I quietly left," he said. A similar fiasco happened in the relay camp in athletics. Last year Jamaican Jason Dawson, the head coach of the men's relay national team, said he was unable to train because of "interference" from Indian coaches. The relay national camp saw turbulent times due to disagreements between foreign and Indian coaches, with athletes taking sides. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) told the athletes in no uncertain terms that they have the best coaches to train if they want to be part of the team. "In track and field, we currently need foreign coaches. Developing Indian coaches will take 10-12 years, and we have started the process. The difference in coaching is all about bio-mechanics, sports science and for that you need a science background. Our coaches lack in that aspect," said Adille Sumariwalla, AFI spokesperson and World Athletics vice-president. Former international athlete Om Prakash Karhana, throws another perspective. "The coach heads a sports programme. But in India administrators are supreme. There is a clash of ego and authority, and that is why you see intelligent, world class athletes not coming into this profession," said the former shot putter. This is why Sreejesh's outburst is understandable, but it also shows that Indian sport has not done enough to develop local coaches, which means the grassroots movement will remain a significant challenge....