Indian Express: After World Hockey League debacle, India coach Roelant Oltmans faces scrutiny

By Mihir Vasavda

Hockey India is expected to decide Roelant Oltmans’ fate after a month. The players, too, are under the scanner and might lose their place in the squad if they are found to be consistently underperforming or stagnating during the evaluation period.

The future of Roelant Oltmans as India’s coach is in jeopardy following a dismal show at the World Hockey League semifinals earlier this month. Hockey India has formed a panel, which includes high performance director David John, to analyse the team’s performance in the last two years under the Dutchman.

The process, which is already underway, is likely to take up to one month to reach a conclusion, after which Hockey India will decide Oltmans’ fate. The players, too, are under the scanner and might lose their place in the squad if they are found to be consistently under-performing or stagnating during the evaluation period.

The performance of the women’s team, too, is being analysed. However, the position of coach Marijne Sjoerd is safe as of now despite the team’s below-par performance in the World League semifinals. The women’s team finished eighth in a 10-team tournament and their hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup hang in balance. The men, meanwhile, finished sixth and do not have to worry about qualifying for the World Cup as they are a part of it by virtue of being hosts.

Hockey India’s grouse with Oltmans is that there is an apparent lack of Plan B when faced with teams with a strong defence who sit in their own half. India has repeatedly stumbled against opponents with such strategies, most notably against Canada and Belgium at the Olympics last year and then against Canada and Malaysia in London at the World League this month.

The federation had said it would conduct a thorough review of India’s dismal show at the World League. A source said the federation did not want to rush into a decision and hence directed John to look into the performance of each player and interview them individually, if needed.

“He has also mentioned that players do not stick to the game plan during key moments. If the problem is at the players’ end, we need to address that. At the same time, though, we have to look into Roelant’s role,” a source said. “If there is a communication gap, we need to understand why it is happening. He has said language is a barrier but there are assistant coaches who can translate well. We will look into every aspect before taking a decision.”
The team will leave for a Europe tour on August 6, where they will play test matches against Belgium and the Netherlands. The final decision is likely to be taken after the team returns.

Oltmans came to India as a high-performance director in 2013. However, he was named chief coach in 2015 after Hockey India parted ways with Paul van Ass.

Incidentally, Van Ass lost his job following India’s disappointing performance at the same tournament.

No HIL in 2018

Meanwhile, the future of the Hockey India League, too, looks bleak after it was announced on Tuesday that the 2018 edition will not take place. A combination of factors are responsible for this decision. The league, which takes place in January/February every year, will clash with the indoor World Cup that will be held in February. While indoor hockey is still not a big deal in India, the European nations take it seriously. Most of their main field hockey players are active in the indoor version of the game as well, which sparked fears that several top stars might skip the league.

At the same time, the franchises too have been bleeding. The team owners have complained that the league lacks a financial road map, which has resulted in most of them making huge losses. The future of the Punjab and Delhi franchises has been a subject of speculation for the last couple of seasons while the future of Lucknow and Ranchi teams, both with Sahara as owners, has been in doubt. The Mumbai team, meanwhile, has already seen a change in ownership.

A new team from Bangalore was supposed to be introduced from the 2018 edition but that will have to wait till 2019. Hockey India is likely to conduct the 2019 edition in November-December as most of the international players will be busy with the Hockey Pro League. India has opted out of the tournament.

Despite prevailing concerns, Hockey India League chairman Mushtaque Ahmad said this was the time to ‘review’ the league. Hockey India, though, stressed this would be a ‘temporary discontinuation.’

“I want to emphasise that we want to resume the League in 2019 albeit with greater prospects to make it more viable financially not only for the stakeholders but also for the players,” Ahmad said.