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Indian players celebrate a goal against South Korea during their finals match of the Asia Cup field hockey 2013 tournament in Ipoh
Hockey India’s High Performance Manager, Roelant Oltmans, has left for the Netherlands for a two-week break after guiding the national senior men’s hockey team to an impressive showing in the 9th Asia Cup in Ipoh.
India finished runners-up after losing to Korea 3-4 in a cracker of a summit clash, which keeps the former’s hopes alive of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup through the Oceania berth as both Australia and New Zealand – hot favourities to win the event – have already made the cut from the from the Hockey World League Round 3 event in Rotterdam.
Oltmans took over the reins of the men’s team as acting head coach after Australian Michael Nobbs quit the job on health grounds after India’s disappointing display in the Hockey World League Round 3 event in Rotterdam.
The famed Dutch coach, who wore the coaching hat for the Sahara Pariwar-owned Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the inaugural Hero Hockey India League, earned copious praise from all quarters for the way he handled the team, which missed out on experience as the likes of Danish Mujtaba, Gurwinder Singh Chandi and SV Sunil were ruled out on account of injuries.
In fact, Oltmans’ coaching style has impressed hockey fans, leaving many to believe that he is the right man to take Indian hockey forward. The Dutchman had sidestepped any talk on him taking charge as head coach of the men’s team on a full-time basis.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Hockey India (HI) have kickstarted the process of picking a new coach to replace Michael Nobbs.
It may be pertinent to mention that Oltmans was appointed by Hockey India to look for the programs of the men’s women’s, junior boys and girls teams. Of course, India’s stellar effort under him at Ipoh has got a lot of people exciting about him taking charge of the men’s team.
According to Hockey India sources, Oltmans is expected to be back in India by the last week of September.
Indian men’s team’s next international assignment is the 2013 Asian Champions Trophy, which will be held in Kakamigahara, Japan from November 1 to 10. Since the national team’s next international campaign is more than a month away, it could give Hockey India adequate time to fine-tune the team’s preparations for the Asian Champions Trophy.
Who knows Oltmans may end up being the acting head coach again for the Asian Champions Trophy as Michael Nobbs’ replacement is not identified by then.
