The end of Roelant Oltmans’ tenure as chief coach of the Indian men’s hockey team on Saturday is being seen as yet another example of administrative high-handedness but hasn’t surprised many in hockey circles.
Former India goalkeeper Ashish Ballal said he was expecting this.
“I am not surprised by the decision given the poor results in recent past. Also, his contribution on field wasn’t exactly spectacular, even though the team did improve a lot in fitness under him. Even earlier, as the High Performance Director, there was little to see in terms of his contribution at the grassroots,” Ballal told The Hindu .
Former player R.P. Singh, a member of the committee that decided on the dismissal, said, “Full credit to what Oltmans has done with the team in the five years he has been here. But we now have to look beyond experiments and get results. The team is stuck at 6-7 level in the world.
Absence of results
“The inconsistency and absence of results in the last two years has been disappointing. We cannot keep losing to teams like Malaysia and Canada when we are targeting Holland and Germany.”
The absence of some key injured senior players in the past couple of months did not make a difference to the general opinion.
As far as his replacement is concerned, former India junior coach Harendra Singh can think of only two that are available and fit the bill — Dutchman Marc Lammers and the legendary Ric Charlesworth — but both are unlikely to take it up.
Players, though, while unwilling to come on record, feel the team doesn’t need reputations. “Worldwide, most teams today have young coaches. A lot of them aren’t very well-known. Argentina’s Carlos Retegui or Germany’s Valentine Altenburg weren’t big names when they took charge. We need someone who has the hunger to prove himself. Names don’t matter,” is the common refrain.
New coach soon
The current HPD David John is keen on having a full-time coach before the Hockey World League Finals in December but knows it won’t be easy.
“The search will possibly start next week and we are keeping all options open. Indian or foreign, we want the best coach rather than the first one available. It takes time, with the women’s coach it took three months to complete the process,” he clarified.
Jagbir Singh.
Jagbir Singh, one of the few Indian names with an understanding of modern hockey, felt results matter. “Every match matters. It is important to analyse performance and take remedial measures in time. What signal does it give if a team loses against lower-ranked side with its best players?
“Conversely, a win against a better side with youngsters would be a major boost for their confidence. If a major decision was to be taken, this was the right time; after the Asia Cup would have been too late,” he said.
Don’t repeat mistake
V. Baskaran, India’s development side coach, said: “He has done well in certain areas like defending but somewhere he lost grip. He wasn’t able to convince some senior players how to go about it. I think it happened at the Rio Olympics itself — when he tried to play Sardar (Singh) on the forward line. That was a big question mark and turning point.
“It is a good move but they should not make the same mistake that they’ve done for the last four years with different foreign coaches.
“Our main focus is the upcoming World Cup in 2018. We can cope with the change in a year. We may face some changes here and there, but it can be done.” ( With inputs from K. Keerthivasan )
