Coach Andrews proves worth with IWL title

Here's a stat: In four seasons as head coach in the Indian Women's League (IWL), the worst performance for Anthony Andrews has been a second-place finish.

- Dhiman Sarkar

KOLKATA: Here's another: With an 85% win record, Andrews is the most successful women's team coach in the top flight in India. Not bad for a 29-year-old who started coaching as a side hustle. "Age should not be a problem for any coach," Andrews told HT after his third IWL title, this time with East Bengal. "You get respect for what you do. If that is helping the players, you have earned their respect."

A club official told HT that as they overhauled the roster with India internationals (Ashalata Devi, Soumya Guguloth, Anju Tamang, Panthoi Chanu and Sandhiya Ranganathan) and foreign players, some of them said they were signing because he was coach. Explains why East Bengal paid Gokulam Kerala to get Andrews who had a year on his contract there.