Indian Express: Don’t think it’s correct to use Sardar Singh’s issue as an excuse: Hockey coach Roelant Oltmans
By Mihir Vasavda
Chief hockey coach Roelant Oltmans said the Sardar Singh issue should not be used as an ‘excuse’ for India’s poor performance, adding that this was a wake-up call for the team ahead of October’s Asia Cup and the World League finals.
A sixth-place finish at the 10-team Hockey World League Semifinals in London handed India a reality check ahead of next year’s World Cup. A police interrogation against former captain Sardar Singh and allegations of match fixing made against Pakistan officials, by Hockey India, further rocked the boat.
Hockey India claimed the incidents had an impact on the team’s performance. In an interview with The Indian Express, chief coach Roelant Oltmans said the Sardar Singh issue should not be used as an ‘excuse’ for India’s poor performance, adding that this was a wake-up call for the team ahead of October’s Asia Cup and the World League finals at the end of the year. Excerpts:
How do you look back at the team’s performance in London?
I call it a kind of wake-up call. We did quite a few good things but there are a couple of things which need to improve. If you look how often we enter the 25-yard circle… the number is twice as much as our opponents. So that is good news in one way. But at the same time, we need to get results out of it. When you compare the results our opponents get out of their entries in the circle, ours is by far lesser. That is a clear area where we need to improve. We need to make sure the performance in the future will be better.
The team ditches the game-plan in crunch times. You’ve been stressing on it a lot but is the message reaching the players?
Most opponents are defensive against us. They give the ball, let us do our thing and then try to attack on counter. If you look at number of opportunities we create, then it’s good. But in the end it’s about final pass, the timing of the pass, when are you going to dodge, the position in the circle… these decisions are very important. It’s a matter of experience. We are working on that. It’s a process and takes time. But I am pleased for the fact (striker) Ramandeep (Singh) scored six field goals. We scored some really nice goals in the tournament. But they also missed several chances in important situations… We could have scored more of course. In the last game against Canada, we were leading 2-1. At that stage, we had four or five golden chances to increase our lead. But we did not and eventually lost 3-2. We have to make sure we finish the game when we get the chances.
The team has had troubles beating top teams in big tournaments. But at the Olympics, they stumbled against Canada, at Azlan Shah Cup they lost to Malaysia and in London, India lost to both teams. Does it concern you that the team isn’t able to beat the lower-ranked teams as well?
No, it doesn’t concern because if you look at statistics, I know it won’t happen next time. So I am not worried.
Sardar Singh was called by the Leeds police in the middle of the tournament. Did it impact the performance, as has been claimed?
I will not use it as an excuse. We are a professional team, we know we have to focus on the job. In the end that’s what it is about and players are aware of that. Of course, it does impact you when you travel 11 hours and police asks you all kinds of questions. But we try to keep that effect as low as possible. Unfortunately, after that situation, our results were less but once again, I don’t think it’s correct to use it as an excuse.
Hockey India has alleged that there was an attempt to fix India’s match against Pakistan. Do you subscribe to those views?
I won’t make any comments on the Pakistan issue.
Questions are raised on Sardar’s role in the team. How do you look at it?
Sardar in 2017 is much better than Sardar in 2016. By that, I mean his understanding of his defensive duties is much better and he is coming into opponent’s circle more than he did before. But I won’t go much into individual details of a player.
Hockey India has decided to pull out of the Pro League, which will be launched in 2019. Do you think that tournament would have been helpful?
There are pros and cons of that tournament. It’s good for hockey in general that matches will be played amongst teams in front of the home crowd. One of the things I feel right now is many matches in major tournaments are played in front of really very few spectators. We have to change that and from that point of view, it’s good. At the same time, it will cost a lot of money just to play a few matches. So that’s a problem. For us, it is important to have competition with best sides in the world.
We pulled out now so that means we have to find different ways for that.Are you happy with with the decision?
Of course you think that we would like to play. But like I said, the most important thing is we get enough opportunities to play top teams in the world throughout the year. I am told that will happen.
The future of Hockey India League is under a cloud and 2018 edition is unlikely to take place. Do you think that will have an impact?
At this moment, I am not aware exactly. There is a meeting with franchises on July 26 so let’s wait to see what comes out of that.