Now, sports secretary calls coach Van Ass a liar
A day before the all-important Hockey India (HI) meeting that will decide the fate of “sacked” Indian men’s team coach Paul van Ass, the Dutchman finds himself on a sticky wicket.
Ever since the controversy broke out, the veteran coach had been maintaining that he neither received the return ticket to India nor was he informed about the national camp at Shilaroo. However, HI chief Narinder Batra releasing the details of the flight ticket and Sports Secretary Ajit Mohan Sharan’s statement that Van Ass is speaking “white lies” on certain issues has made his return difficult.
Van Ass today said that he had received the mail from HI on June 9, but failed to “confirm” the return ticket as it slipped his mind.
“I checked my mailbox yesterday and there was a return booking to Delhi for July 17. I just had to confirm it, but I missed it. But, during all this, I came to know that I was not welcome anymore,” Van Ass told The Tribune from Rotterdam.
Van Ass has mailed all the communication from HI to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and is awaiting the reply. “I have sent the mails to SAI. I asked them twice if they received it or not. There has been no response.” However, Sharan informed that what Van Ass has sent to SAI doesn‘t indicate clearly that he has been sacked.
“He has sent some mails, but I would rather term those as ‘rambling’. Those were not definitive mails. Also, he was lying about the flight ticket as we have ourselves seen that the booking was made in his name,” Sharan told The Tribune.
Sharan said Van Ass has claimed that High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans told him that he has been sacked, but when Van Ass was asked to forward the mail, he refused. “He has not shared the mail with SAI. Why is he not sending it to us? And, by the way, who is Oltmans to sack him? Was he directed by SAI to do so? He has no authority to appoint or sack anyone. Van Ass should have checked it with us. He has a contract with SAI, not HI,” Sharan added.
When asked about it, Van Ass said: “I assumed that Batra had a contract with the SAI. He could sack me. But that was not the case. This means I still have a chance. I am ready to come back and meet all the parties involved.” But, Van Ass’ return seems unlikely as the Ministry, SAI and HI are on the same page this time around. When asked how he could believe Oltmans’ mail to be his marching orders when it was not on HI’s official letterhead, Van Ass: “Oltmans had written in his capacity as Technical Director. On Tuesday (July 14), it was confirmed that Elena Norman (HI CEO) had contacted the SAI. The formal letter was just a matter of days.”Asked why is he not sharing the mail with the SAI or making it public, Van Ass said: “Don’t worry. There’s a meeting tomorrow in Delhi. If they keep blaming me, I will release the mails.”