Going by its past performances, not many would fancy Indian men’s hockey team’s chances in the upcoming Olympics, but chief coach Roelant Oltmans says a medal finish in Rio is very much achievable if “everything falls in the right place at the right time”.
Eight-time gold medallists India finished a lowly 12th and last in the london Olympics four years ago, but Oltmans feels that’s a thing of the past and says if his boys can bring out their best anything can happen.
“We are in a group of teams that can win a medal but everything has to fall in the right place at the right moment and that is what the Olympic Games are all about,” Oltmans told.
“The question is ‘will you be able to to show your best hockey at the right moment’IJ and the answer is ‘If we do so we are (a medal contender)’. Every team in the world wants to win a medal in the Olympic Games. For us it’s the same but we have to make improvement to make that happen. I always go step by step, so the first thing for me is having a good pool phase and qualify for the quarterfinals. From there on we need to win only three more matches,” the Dutchman said.