Indian hockey coach Van Ass was removed from his duties in controversial circumstances. Van Ass's removal started after the coach reportedly had a spat with Hockey India president Narinder Batra. It was reported that after India's come-from-behind 3-2 win over Malaysia in the Hockey World league, in July, Batra apparently gave the side a post-match team talk while they were cooling down — telling them that he was not pleased with the performance. Van Ass took offence to this and asked Batra to leave the field. The administrator eventually left the field angry and apparently was not happy with the Dutchman's behaviour. As a result of which Van Ass failed to report for the national camp which started on 18 July in Himachal Pradesh, fuelling rumours that his future was in doubt. The Dutchman however, said he did not return to take charge of the camp, saying HI had not sent him the air ticket. He also added: "I have been fired by HI. I have not received any official confirmation from the federation but HI officials have told me that this is happening." But, Batra denied terminating the coach's contract and said that the Dutchman was lying and travel tickets had indeed been sent to him. The saga was finally put to bed on July 24 following a meeting and in the discussions that followed, High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans took over reign of the Indian side till Olympics.