The first national camp of 2016 obviously attaches immense significance for the Indian senior men’s hockey team with the Rio Olympics just five months away. Clearly, the all the loose ends have to be ironed out at the ongoing camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) South Centre in Bengaluru.
The Indian team’s head coach Roelant Oltmans is aware of the enormity of the task as he gets down to the business of getting the best out of his boys at the Bengaluru camp. Room for improvement is one thing that is the focus of most coaches, and for Oltmans, it isn’t any different. The core 33 probables are hitting the drills in all earnest to prepare not just for the Olympics but also for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, which will be played at Ipoh in April.
The national team will then feature in the Champions Trophy in England in June, followed by a Six Nations Event in Valencia, Spain in July. “We should be playing 20-odd games going into the Olympics, which should be a decent enough preparation for the Olympics. All our players will get opportunities to prove their worth,” says Indian team’s head coach Roelant Oltmans, who had earlier coached the Pakistan team as well.
The celebrated Dutch coach, who took a well-deserved break after the Hockey World League Final Round in Raipur, watched all the action of the Coal India Hockey India League. He is looking to bring some ‘newness’ in the way the Indian mount their attacks. “There is a need for our forward line to be less predictable – we can be better off with some amount of disguise in the way we move forward and catch opponents off-guard,” opines Oltmans, who is also aware of beefing up the team’s defence.
“There is for all to see that our defence has shown marked improvement in recent months, especially in key games. Having said that, it is important to understand that we have areas in defence which we need to improve further. Improvement is a continuous process and raising the bar is the way forward.” The 33 core probables does not include experienced midfielder Gurbaj Singh nor long out-of-favour striker Gurwinder Singh Chandi.
