Hockey India (HI) has done many good things over the last 5-6 years, from Hockey India League to more investments in junior hockey, women's hockey and better infrastructure. But this is one decision I just can't understand. This is just a knee-jerk reaction to our losses against Malaysia and Canada.
Roelant Oltmans is one of the best coaches in world hockey at the moment, and his departure is a big loss. After 2016 Rio Olympics, once HI decided to go with Oltmans till 2020 Tokyo Games, they should've stuck with it.
We don't need to produce results now. This is the time to experiment. If we don't do that now in the smaller tournaments and especially when we have automatic qualification for the 2018 World Cup, then when will we do it? This was the time to blood in the youngsters who did well in the Junior World Cup.
Secondly, we have to understand that goalkeeper PR Sreejesh wasn't there in the last few tournaments. Thirdly, the players also have to take up responsibility, it can't all fall on Oltmans's shoulders.
Any coach would've wanted to experiment, and no matter who the coach was, they would've had similar results. It's not easy to blood 7-8 juniors in a senior tournament, and that too without your best goalkeeper.
We need to think about 2018 and 2020, and this was a process, especially when it was made clear by Oltmans and HI that they would be trying out players in a few tournaments. Obviously, you need to produce results, but to sack the coach at this point of time, I just can't understand the logic.
Lastly, even if there's an interim coach, a coach should be that, not a high performance director. David John is not a coach.
