As the Indian men’s hockey team finds itself without a coach ahead of a major tournament after Terry Walsh’s resignation from the post, High Performance Director (HPD) Roelant Oltmans once again steps in to fill the void.
Oltmans doubled up as coach and HPD in 2013 as well when Michael Nobbs was sacked ahead of Asia Cup and now he is doubling up for the Champions Trophy to held in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, from November 29.
The Dutchman is unfazed by the challenge at hand and said he prefers to look forward than ponder about the past. “It’s not the best thing but at this moment we’ve to look forward and ensure we prepare the team as good as we can for the Champions Trophy. It’s an important tournament where 8 best teams of the world will be competing,” said Oltmans.
“The morale of the team is good because we know there are distractions in every process. But at this moment we only want to look forward. We are just looking at the Champions Trophy and trying to make sure that we are prepared as good as possible,” he told reporters after the team’s training session at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Monday.
“I know there are high expectations so we have to play accordingly. The boys are really keen to once again produce a fantastic performance in 2014,” he added.
Oltmans refused to predict about India’s final result in the Champions Trophy but said for him what is important is “performance”. “I never talk about the outcome because its not in our hands. What is in our hands is the performance level. I only know is that we need to prepare ourselves to give a good performance,” he said.