Shayan Acharya

Oltmans Comfortable in Hot Seat

NEW DELHI:There is something about Roelant Oltmans that makes him stand out. Outspoken and a bundle of energy, the Dutchman doesn’t like mincing words, and barely a couple of days after officially taking over as the coach of Indian men’s hockey team, Oltmans admits to be in the ‘danger zone’.

After parting ways with Paul van Ass, the Hockey India (HI) has decided to hand over responsibility to Oltmans, who had been working as the High Performance Director. This doubling up of responsibility means more pressure and the veteran coach is well aware of it. “I know my role has changed. I am in the danger zone now, but I am ready to accept this challenge,” Oltmans told Express on Thursday.

The image of Indian hockey has taken a hit after the Van Ass saga, as the foreign coach had to leave following an argument with HI boss Narinder Batra. But even after all that, Oltmans isn’t ready to mellow down. “I am not afraid. If I was, I wouldn’t have taken the job. I will do what I feel is right, and if people think that I am not good enough or they don’t like my style of functioning, they can take any call,” he said.

Having worked with the Pakistan team in the past, Oltmans admits that administrative interference is more in Indian hockey.

“In India, there is more administration involvement than in Pakistan. Nowhere is a coach is given a free hand; it’s just that in Pakistan there was just one level between coach and decision maker. Here the interference is far more,” Oltmans pointed out.

With just a year left for the Rio Olympics, the focus will once again be on the hockey team. But Oltmans wants to be realistic. “It’s definitely a big challenge to win medals in Olympics. In the last Olympics, we were 12th and finished 9th in World Cup, and despite that you believe that we can win a medal in two years’ time?” he asked, adding they would try to put up a good show.

“We will strive for it, 100 per cent. In the past, we have defeated quite a number of top teams, so it is possible. But is it consistently possible? Not yet; but we have one more year to work on it,” he explained. And that effort has already started. After a 10-day hill training in the Himachal Pradesh hamlet of Silharoo, the Indian team will be playing friendlies against France and Spain next month. Before leaving for the European tour, the new coach believes that these trips will help players improve their game. “We plan these matches because we believe it will help them increase their tactical awareness. You can try to train at home as much as possible, but playing elsewhere is different,” he said.

In the World Hockey League Semifinals in Antwerp, India failed to live up to expectations. “The other European teams were far superior. But we must play total hockey. It is something I agree upon, but we have to specify the role inside the system to get the best out of our team,” the veteran coach signed off.

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July 31-Aug 14 — Euro Tour (France & Spain).

Nov 27-Dec 6 — Men’s Hockey World League Final – Round 4 (India).