Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth is in favour of a foreign coach for India as he feels Indian coaches “are not good enough to fulfil the requirements” of the modern-day game.
“I think India needs a foreign expert. I can say it from my experience that Indian coaches are not good enough to fulfil the requirements of modern hockey,” Charlesworth said. Charlesworth’s comments came two days after fellow Australian Michael Nobbs was prematurely relieved of his duties as India’s chief coach because of non-performance. Charlesworth said he was surprised by India’s decision to select Nobbs over Roelant Oltmans for the chief coach’s post.
“There are many questions. Firstly, if I was given a choice between Oltmans and Nobbs, I would have chosen the Oltmans who is more experienced,” he said. “Why did they choose Nobbs thenIJ And if he was made the coach, he should have been given the support he needed,” said Charlesworth, who is presently the coach of Australian team.
Pressure brings best out of me Roelant Oltmans realises the burden of expectations he will carry as an interim coach of the national hockey team during the Asia Cup but the Dutchman is confident that adversity will bring the best out of him. “I am there for just 6 weeks. But I am up for the challenge otherwise I wouldn’t have accepted the offer. I love such situations because I love to handle pressure. It motivates me to do better,” Oltmans, who will coach the team after the unceremonious exit of Nobbs, said.
The legendary Dutch coach said that his focus will primarily be on three things — preparation, performance and result. “I know Indian team will feel the pressure but I am focused at preparing my wards well for the Asia Cup. What I have to look at in these six weeks will be preparation, performance and then results. A good preparation will get you performance and from a good performance comes results and that’s what I have always believed in,” he stated in a confident tone. Kaushik appointed coach Meanwhile, Olympian Maharaj Krishan Kaushik was on Wednesday appointed as a coach of the senior men’s hockey team, just two days after Nobbs was shown the door because of non-performance.