Former India males’s hockey head coach Roelant Oltmans has blamed the dearth of tactical consciousness and a non-existent membership tradition for India’s early exit within the ongoing version of the FIH Men’s World Cup.
India misplaced the crossover match to New Zealand and didn’t make the quarter-finals after taking place 4-5 in sudden loss of life.
India’s present head coach Graham Reid had additionally voiced concern concerning the lack of membership tradition after the Hockey India League (HIL) grew to become defunct in 2017.
“There isn’t any membership tradition in India, that’s for positive. And the gamers must proceed taking part in video games, that this staff is missing,” Oltmans, who was at the helm of affairs of the Indian team from 2015 to 2017, told PTI in an interview.
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“These Indians are fantastic hockey players, no doubt about that. But you need to know what to do at which moment of the game. If all of a sudden, you are 11 against 10, what are you going to do?” added the Dutchman, who additionally served because the High Performance Director of Indian hockey from 2013 to 2015.
India have been unable to reap the benefits of the circumstances after New Zealand have been lowered to 10 males within the crossover match.
After New Zealand made it 3-3 within the fourth quarter, Nick Ross acquired a yellow card within the 53rd minute and was suspended for 5 minutes. New Zealand defended doggedly to take the match into penalty shootout after which sudden loss of life.
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“India had 5 minutes earlier than the top of the match when a New Zealand participant was out. What have been India doing at such a second? You must play tactical video games, execute them correctly,” Oltmans, who was India head coach during the 2016 Rio Olympics, said.
“The Germans scored two goals in three minutes (against England), that is the difference, that is something India still need to work on.” Oltmans was shocked that India didn’t have a mental-conditioning coach. The Dutchman stated {that a} psychologist was with the staff on the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru when he was on the helm.
“Absolutely, it (having a mental-conditioning coach) makes a distinction. When I used to be the pinnacle coach previous to the (Rio) Olympics, I had a psychologist in my employees. It is kind of the identical as having a mental-conditioning coach.
“For the bodily a part of the sport, we have now bodily coaching, for tactical a part of the sport, we have now tactical coaching, for talent coaching we have now drag-flick trainers. But the psychological side made a significant distinction and there we don’t have a severe coach. That is unusual,” said Oltmans.
He opined that captain Harmanpreet Singh shouldering too many responsibilities could have affected his performance in the World Cup. Harmanpreet struggled to score with his drag-flick, which is being blamed for India’s early exit.
“In a team, you always know who your leaders are. Harmanpreet has been on the scene since the 2016 Junior World Cup and now we are talking about 2023. Over the years, he has shown that he is an important player,” Oltmans stated, explaining how Harmanpreet was given the management position.
“He (Harmanpreet) is main the defence and he’s the primary penalty-corner taker. We wish to give him a lot duties on the similar time. I’m positive he has the qualities to steer the staff however having too many duties can have an effect on him, although I do know he’s a really calm and relaxed participant in hectic conditions.” Oltmans, who has also coached Pakistan, Malaysia and the Netherlands national teams, said that India must do more to find and groom talented players, an aspect which, he said, the country was lacking as compared to countries like Netherlands.
“You need to develop talent in every aspect of the game. Quite a few players from that junior World Cup-winning Indian side are in this senior World Cup but (that is) not enough.
“Players like Dipsan Tirkey, Harjeet Singh were there in that (junior) team. Where have they been; they are gone out of the system. I don’t see them any longer.
“Talent grooming is an important part as you need to prepare the next generation. Of course, not everybody can be included in the national team. But we need to ensure that there is a continuous stream of talent.” The 68-year-old coach, nevertheless, warned different international locations to not low cost India for a 2024 Paris Olympics podium end.
“They (India) have been on the rostrum in Tokyo, why can’t they be there (in Paris)? There is sufficient expertise on this nation. Make correct plans, execute them correctly, use proper folks and you can be there.” He also welcomed the national federation’s plan to revive Hockey India League (HIL).
“Absolutely, HIL will be really beneficial for Indian hockey if it comes back. Not only the senior national team players, the juniors will also benefit. In that period when the HIL was there (till 2017), India won the junior World Cup in 2016 (Lucknow).” Oltmans will not be too fearful about fewer penalty-corner objectives being scored in the previous couple of years.
“Normally, PC conversion fee was about one in three and later one in 4, that was alright. But, now, it’s one in 5 or one in six, that’s too low. We want to enhance that once more.
“If you aren’t scoring penalty-corner objectives out of your drag-flick, then you must change your mindset and see what can we do to attain. We might even see extra objectives within the subsequent main event.” He said there is no harm in employing the old method of taking direct hits from PCs, rather than going for a drag-flick.
“We have seen that already, England scored from that (PC hit), even South Korea scored. So it can be drag-flick, hitting or variations, according to situation. In the end, there are only five defenders, including the goalkeeper. If you want, you can put 10 attackers. So we can think about how we can score 50 per cent of penalty corners.”
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