Roger Van Gent set to join Indian Men's Hockey Team coaching staff
New Delhi, 07 November 2015: Hockey India, the apex body governing field hockey in India, has announced the appointment of Roger Van Gent as the Strategic Coach for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team. Van Gent will join the coaching staff for the Indian Men’s Hockey team and will be assisting Director - High Performance & Chief Coach, Men, Roelant Oltmans.
The pair will work with the team towards the much awaited Hero Hockey World League Final 2015 and for the Rio Olympics slated for next year.
Van Gent, a Dutch citizen, embarked on his coaching career after securing the FIH high performance coaching qualification in 2000. Ever since then he has worked with various domestic teams in the Netherlands. He has himself been a part of the first men’s team of a club, MEP in Boxtel, in the head division of Netherlands for a decade (1978-88). As an F.I.H. high performance coach, he was part of the Kenyan National men’s team in 2007.
“Roger’s track record speaks for him and I am happy that he is coming on board in the coaching staff for the Indian’s men’s hockey team. He has strong strategic experience and I am sure his inputs will help the team and Roelant in bridging the gaps and work towards a successful campaign for the upcoming Hero Hockey World League and the 2016 Rio Olympics,” said Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad, Secretary General, Hockey India announcing Van Gent’s appointment to the post.
The Indian team is currently training at the SAI centre in Bengaluru and is scheduled to take on Australia in a three match test series starting from 19 November 2015. Subsequently, they will participate in the Hero Hockey World League Final 2015 from 27 November 2015.