Now, HI shows the door to Oltmans

Cites poor results as the reason; Dutchman fourth foreign coach to be sacked in five years


The results under Oltmans had not been good over the last eight months, with India losing a series in Australia, failing to defend their Azlan title, and then getting beaten by lower-ranked Malaysia and Canada in World Hockey League Semifinals in London. File photo

Hockey India (HI) today sacked the national men’s team coach Roelant Oltmans on the grounds that “the current format of coaching was not showing results beyond a certain level”. Oltmans, thus, becomes the fourth foreign coach to be sacked in the last five years, after Michael Nobbs, Terry Walsh and Paul van Ass. Oltmans came on board as HI’s High Performance Director in 2013 and took over as chief coach after van Ass was sacked. Hockey India’s High Performance Director David John — whose area of expertise is fitness — will take charge of the team until a suitable replacement is found, HI said in a statement today.