The most important question Indian captain Sardar Singh faced as soon as he and his team landed at Bhubneswar airport was expectedly the issue of new coach at the expense of 1-year survived Terry Walsh.

The experienced hand, not just on turf but also at press interactions, ducked a clean reply.

All he said was in essence Roelant Oltmans has taken over and the team is preparing well the method of which is in continuum with Terry’s.

“After Terry Walsh, Roelant Oltmans has taken up the job and is training us on the same lines of Terry’s so that we do not have any problem,” he added.

“Oltmans has been of great help”, he added, knowing well the media did not get straight but a guile dodge for which he is patented at midfield.

“Our primary focus as a team right now is to play a good tournament and finish at the top of the table in our group. Post the golden finish in the recently concluded 17th Asiad 2014, the team is full of confidence and high on spirits. We will be aiming at sealing the top position in the tournament and emerge as winners.”

Skipper Sardar Singh, only to speak to the media, felt that the good things happened in the year would continue at the fag end also.

“We have had a good year so far. The performances have improved with every tournament. We hope to carry on with the same positivity in this tournament as well.”

The arrival of teams for the Champions Trophy has begun with the Indian team being the first to arrive in Bhubaneswar.

Accompanied by coach Roelant Oltmans and the support staff, the team led by Sardar Singh landed in the Temple City late in the evening (Thursday).

They were escorted by a pilot car to their hotel. The team will start their practice from tomorrow (November 28)

Coach at large Rolent Oltmans said, “Our aim is to improve ourselves and widen the scope for a decent performance with each game. The team has gained a lot of confidence with the last two tournaments.

“Bhubneswar is the right moment to showcase our potency and learnings considering the fact that we have been consistently improving with every game. We don’t know how Belgium, Germany and Holland have practiced and how well prepared they are but we are focussed and have planned to concentrate on one game at a time and give a tough fight to the opponents leading to a glorious win in the tournament.”

“There are no second thoughts that the Hero Men’s Champions Trophy 2014 is going to help us improve and provide us some good experiences to transform us in a much better bunch of players.”

Photo by Tazeen Qureshy