Will Paul Van Ass face the Hockey India heat?

Paul van Ass earlier this year at a training camp with the Indian Hockey team

Like a coach deserves credit for a team’s superb performance, he also has to take the flak when a team underperforms. The plight of Indian men’s hockey team head coach Paul Van Ass is nothing different after the team’s disappointing fourth place finish in the recent Hockey World League Semifinal Round in Belgium.

The Dutch coach’s total hockey concept may have been warmly received by the players, but the manner in which India conceded 15 goals against higher ranked sides like Australia, Belgium and Great Britain in the latter stages of the tournaments has only spawned uncomfortable questions about whether ‘all the good work’ done during Terry Walsh’s stint is tapering off.

As we all know, 2014 was a huge year for the men’s team as they attained goals they had not accomplished in the last fifteen years – beating the top four sides.

The swords were not exactly out when India after a sloppy begging managed a bronze medal finish in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Obviously, filling into the big shoes of Terry Walsh was no easy task for Paul Van Ass, who also has decent coaching credentials having coached the Dutch men’s team. But it seems that Hockey India are not taking things lightly after they suffered 2-6, 0-4, 1-5 defeats at the hands of Australia, Belgium and Great Britain.

It is learnt that Hockey India has asked the coaching staff to submit a report on India’s poor showing in Belgium by July 16. More importantly, the hockey body does not a repeat of the 2012 London Olympics disaster. The team have shown that they have made swift progress since the ‘London shame’ and another Olympic disaster will be a killer blow to the steady steps India is taking to regain its lost glory.

Paul Van Ass has said on many occasions that he wants to try out more players in one position so that the team can pull their weight in the case of loss of form or injuries to key players. Hockey India is not going to believe all this, however, when the team is not delivering performances to par with just a year left for the Rio Olympics.

Insiders say the hockey federation will not refrain from taking ‘tough decisions’ if they are not satisfied with the contours of the report. It has been learned that Hockey India will take a couple of weeks to chart out its road forward.

One thing is clear – no complacency will be tolerated just because a coach is in the job only for a few months as the bigger Rio Olympics picture is the focus area. Make no mistake, Indian hockey has done enough in the last three years to trigger hope that they can regain its lost glory and the next couple of weeks will see plenty of action off the pitch.