Having taken South Korea from being an also-ran in 1989 to becoming one of the hottest contenders in world hockey today, Korean Kim Sang-Ryul is in the league of the extraordinary. He has done what Dutch coach Maurits Hendriks did to Spain and is one of the best brains in modern hockey.

Kim had taken up the challenge of coaching the Chinese men's team after a short stint with the Chinese women's team about three years ago. Obviously, hockey was never a priority in China but with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the sport is being taken seriously. And China has found the right man in Kim to lift their game.

With Korea, he worked wonders and they ended up winning the 1994 Asian Games gold and the silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Though China have not done much yet, there have been glimpses of what Kim can do to the team. Under him, China put up a good show at the Doha Asian Games, handing embarrassing defeats to Asian giants India and Pakistan. They took silver in Doha behind Korea and qualified for the Olympics.

Things looking up
"Things are slowly improving with the Chinese team. After some good results in the Asian Games, hockey is slowly becoming popular now and more players are coming up. We have just about 200 players out of which we pick about 30 as probables," Kim observed. "The biggest challenge when I started was there were no proper hockey stadia and very few players. But government support is there and we are on our way up. We are trying new players now.

"Of course, we were lucky when we beat India and Pakistan in Doha. Both are good teams and China used to lose to them by big margins. I would still say that India and Pakistan are far better than China. And success does not come to one team always. The opponents we beat will hit back," Kim added.

Being the Olympic hosts, the Chinese men's team would have qualified anyway, but the Doha silver confirms that they are no pushovers now. But then, the coach and the authorities are not expecting China to work wonders. "There is no pressure to win the Olympic gold or anything like that. The idea is to improve the standard of the game. And I am no magician either. It takes time and my duty is to improve hockey in China. We are looking beyond 2008 and at the 2010 Asiad and the 2012 London Olympics," Kim noted.

"Now I am using Korean methods but the idea is to develop a Chinese style of hockey. I am inculcating good coaching ideas to local coaches. With better fitness programmes, the Chinese boys are now fit."
Getting China to what they are in hockey today and being a foreign coach, Kim has certainly had his share of challenges. But Kim stood up to it with steely determination and wanted to make something out of the Chinese team. "There was a big difference in the two cultures, the playing skills, discipline, education and many other things. But I had to overcome these things," Kim stated.

Keen student
Having been a student of Balkishen Singh at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala in 1995-96, Kim then went on to do many more coaching courses to keep in touch with the modern trends in hockey.

"I learnt basic skills in Patiala. It was amazing to see such good skills. But now Korea or China can't play like India and Pakistan. Today's hockey is such that one has to read the opponent and play according to that, Kim remarked. "It is good to have skills but it should be able to win matches for you."

"China has to get good players. Take for example the drag-flickers, Korea has a lot of them," he said, adding that drag-flickers needed special attention since they were prone to injuries.

Kim would be with the Chinese team till the Beijing Games. Is a coaching stint with India a possibility? "Maybe! Yes, I would like to do it if I get a chance. But it needs to be a long-term thing because what I have seen is that the players can't improve overnight," he signed off.