New Indian Express: Oltmans in corridor of uncertainty

By Swaroop Swaminathan

CHENNAI: “A year in the life of a politician is an eternity,” or so the old adage goes. Tweak that a bit and you might accurately describe the rapid turn of fortunes, or lack there of, in Indian hockey. After the seniors returned with silver from the Champions Trophy and the juniors followed it up with a World Cup triumph, they were heralded as the new kings.2017, though, hasn’t gone according to plan. Fourth at Sultan Azlan Shah, last at the tri-nations involving Belgium and Germany and sixth at the World League Final in London. Severe off-field issues — withdrawing from Pro League, no Hockey India League in 2018 and Sardar Singh taken in for questioning during the Semifinals — have also contributed to the less than pretty picture.

There is also a supposed gag order in place as the team and support staff have been effectively barred from talking to the media. That was briefly lifted as several youngsters (as many as six are in line to make their senior debuts) were put in front of the media before a much-changed team left for a week-long Europe tour on Saturday. Chief coach Roelant Oltmans and captain (in this case Manpreet Singh) usually have a pre-departure press conference at the SAI centre in Bengaluru but that wasn’t followed for this tour.

While this trip isn’t a priority for Oltmans & Co — he has said many times that the Asia Cup (October) and World League Final (December) are the events to aim for — he can’t dismiss it out of hand. Especially when he is under sufficient pressure. The working theory is that Hockey India will decide by the end of August whether Oltmans has to leave. Insiders have revealed that while results (bar the Semifinals in London) have been acceptable, the team still has the same issues it had a few years ago (losing against superior sides, failing to come up with a winning Plan B and failing to come back after faling behind). Given HI insist they haven’t made up their mind, good performances might stall the process of initiating severance clauses.

Former national coach V Baskaran, who has been monitoring developments closely, opines HI should wait for some time. “I don’t think you can call this team the first 18,” he told Express. “It’s more a core-group team and it’s a great opportunity for them. But I wouldn’t say the time has come to throw Oltmans out because of one bad FIH tournament. He has had two years and old problems still remain but with important events coming up, it would be a bad decision to ask him to go.”

Can the Dutchman turn it around? The next week could nudge HI one way or another.

India watch

Schedule: Aug 9 vs Belgium, Aug 10 vs Belgium, Aug 13 vs Netherlands, Aug 14 vs Netherlands, Aug 16 vs Austria. Squad: Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, Suraj Karkera. Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey, Kothajit Singh, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar. Midfielders: SK Uthappa, Harjeet Singh, Manpreet Singh (C), Chinglensana Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma. Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Armaan Qureshi.