Women did a fantastic job in Antwerp: Oltmans
The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams had contrasting outings at the recent Hockey World League semifinals in Antwerp. While the men disappointed despite finishing fourth in the tournament, the women all but booked a historic Olympic spot despite a fifth-place finish.
“We can see that the girls did a fantastic job out there. I am proud of the girls — they had the desire, composure and willingness and there was a lot of improvement in their game. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done, we saw that against New Zealand and the Netherlands but that again was not a surprise,” Hockey India’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans told The Hindu a day after returning from Belgium.
“As for the men, I agree the team did not play consistently and we were not up there against the top teams. Conceding four-five goals against teams like Australia, Belgium or Great Britain meant we were not at the level expected in this tournament,” Oltmans added.
However, he refused to press the panic button. “I am not afraid for the team’s future. We did pretty well six months ago and we can do it again. It is now up to us to transform this bunch of players into a winning unit in our progress towards the Olympics,” the Dutchman said. The team missed a few senior players in every department but Oltmans admitted that there were no excuses for poor performances. “We have a core of 30 plus players so there are no excuses. Yes, the team did not perform up to the level this time but I am confident of the players,” Oltmans said.
Coach Paul van Ass had advocated total hockey before the tournament but the Indian team failed to execute the plan. “Obviously Paul would be disappointed with the overall performance of the side. But I am very sure that this tournament would not affect the long-term prospects of the team,” Oltmans said.
Exposure
The high performance director, however, is now looking at getting the Indian women a lot more exposure. “We finished last at the Champions Challenge last year but our preparations were aimed at the Asian Games and we did pretty well there. We had the test series against Italy and Spain and the New Zealand tour which were very important to our performance here. We now have to plan from now to the Olympics and the main thing is to ensure a lot of international exposure for the women,” Oltmans said.
“For the time being, however, the players have been given 10 days off for rest. While the men will regroup for the next camp on July 18, the women will be getting back to training in the first week of August. That’s because a lot of our girls are also part of the national junior side and will be training with them for the junior Asia Cup (in September).”
Interestingly, the teams were supposed to have their next camps in Bengaluru but the new turfs being laid there are yet to be ready. As such, the venue for training is yet to be decided. “We have options. It could be Bengaluru, Shilaru or Delhi, let’s see,” Oltmans said.