Hockey India (HI) President Narinder Batra on Saturday announced High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans as the coach of men's national team after Paul van Ass's six-month tenure ended under unceremonious circumstances.
Batra met Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Director General, Injeti Srinivas, before making the announcement on the lines of recommendations made by the Special Committee constituted by HI.
"Oltmans has agreed to be the coach of Indian men's team," the president told reporters outside the SAI office after his meeting with Srinivas. "Oltmans is our future coach until the [2016] Olympics. We will request him to stay until the [2018] World Cup," Batra added.
When asked about the reasons for Van Ass's unexpected ousted, Batra said HI was not happy with his performance.
"Paul van Ass had his personal problems. He is not a good coach. He is away [in Netherlands] and beating about the bush putting allegations. We can't give clarifications to his allegations," the HI president further said.
When asked about why Oltmans had to send mails to Van Ass telling him that he's been fired, Batra refused to divulge much. "I can't blame Oltmans for the e-mails," he said.
Batra was also quizzed about reports of Gurbaj Singh being reported for misbehaviour but he chose not to reply to those questions stating that it's an "internal matter".
"I don't want to discuss about Gurbaj Singh, it is an internal matter," he said. It has been reported that the Special Committee has mentioned to HI about Gurbaj's misconduct that is leading to disharmony in the team.
The team is currently in Shilaroo for a fitness camp and is expected to tour France soon.
Earlier in the day, Oltmans arrived from Shilaroo to meet Batra and HI CEO Elena Norman. After the meeting, Batra told reporters that he will meeting SAI DG later in the day
The Special Committee constituted by Hockey India (HI) had recommended Oltmans to replace his countryman van Ass after the fallout that led to the latter's ouster just six months into his job.
Former Olympian BP Govinda, who is part of the committee that met in New Delhi on Saturday, confirmed this to CNN-IBN while adding that HI and SAI will soon take the final call on their recommendation.
"Oltmans has been with the team for some time and he is the most logical choice to take over as coach. We have recommended his name to Hockey India that will take the final call," Govinda said.
The development came after Harbinder Singh, who chaired the Special Committee meeting, confirmed reporters that Van Ass won't be coming back.
"We are not considering Van Ass since he is not responding, so there is no question of him returning," Harbinder told reporters after a marathon three-hour meeting at the HI office on Friday, which also involved V Baskaran, AB Subbaiah, Thoiba Singh, RP Singh, Asunta Lakra and Jasjeet Kaur besides Govinda.
Oltmans is not new to the dual role as he has done it before in the past to give HI time to find a replacement for the outgoing coach.
In hindsight, Oltmans appointment could be a blessing in disguise for India's Olympic campaign since he has been with the team for over three years, which is more than the tenure of India's past three coaches - Michael Nobbs, Terry Walsh and Van Ass.
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