By: JurmoloyaRava
Following a three-day meeting of the Hockey India High Performance and Development Committee, Roelant Oltmans has been sacked as the head coach of the Indian men’s hockey team.
He was removed from the performance of the team has not been consistent or up to the desired levels, but Oltmans role as chief coach in improving the teams’ overall fitness and cohesiveness has been appreciated.
Harbinder Singh, Chairman of the Hockey India Selection Committee, said that the decision has been taken keeping in mind the important tournaments in next two years. “The Committee was convened since we are collectively not satisfied with the Indian Men’s Hockey team’s performance in 2016 and 2017 and feels that wins in Asia can’t be a benchmark for success anymore. We need to show results beyond intent in key international tournaments where the sporadic success over the last two years is more incidental than deliberate. To make results a reality, we need to make hard decisions for the greater good of the future of Hockey in India. The current format of coaching was not showing results beyond a certain level.”
“The Committee unanimously agreed that immediate action was required to be taken and while change may not always be comfortable it is essential if we want to position ourselves as a serious global contender for the upcoming critical tournaments in 2018 including the Asian Games & World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games,” he said.
[TheChamp-Sharing]
