Roelant Oltmans to be given permanent charge till Rio 2016

Roelant Oltmans (C) with members of the Indian hockey team (Getty Images)

Hockey India is in the process of appointing Dutchman Roelant Oltmans as national team coach on a permanent basis, according to reports from TOI on Tuesday. The Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) approval is required for all coaching appointments, but the body is believed to be okay with Hockey India’s decision.

Since the resignation of Australian Michael Nobbs earlier in July, India has been without a chief coach for its men’s national hockey team.

Oltmans’ name has been recommended to SAI as they believe the Dutchman to be a suitable candidate for the job. They are also believed to be highly impressed with the team’s performance at the recent Asia Cup, where they lost out marginally to South Korea in a nail-biting final.  They now await a final clearance from the government.

Former India coach Jose Brasa has also reportedly handed in his application , but his not so friendly relationship meant that he was never given due consideration for the job. Oltmans has been with the team as interim coach after being appointed just before the Asia Cup last month.

This was, of course, in addition to Oltmans’ role as high performance director earlier this year which he took over with the aim of strengthening hockey in India at the grass-roots. It is yet to be determined if Hockey India will look for a successor to Oltmans for this role, or if the Dutchman would be given a dual responsibility.

Oltmans is expected to be given the reigns until the Rio Olympics in 2016 and both SAI and Hockey India are set to review his performance annually. M.K. Kaushik is also set to continue in his role as Oltmans’ deputy.

“Together, they form a very strong coaching pair and hopefully, they will be able to make the national team strong. They barely got a month with the national team before the Asia Cup and though the team did not win the tournament, the team’s performance there was better than what most expected, especially because a few senior players were injured,” the source said.

Both Hockey India and SAI are said to have received very positive feedback about Oltmans from the players as well as the coaching staff.

Narinder Batra, secretary general of Hockey India, said the ‘new coach of the national team will be named in one week or 10 days at the most.’