Pathetic, erratic and lucky — those are the words World Cup winning former captain Ajit Pal Singh used to describe India’s performance in the league stage of the Hockey World League — a tournament in which they finished third to win their first world-level medal in 33 years.
As India celebrated their incredible penalty shootout win over Netherlands to take first place, skeptics were already finding loopholes in the achievement. Some of the criticisms, like Ajit Pal Singh saying that consistency is still lacking from the side, ring true. So too does the fact that Australia and Netherlands brought their second-string teams to the tournament with the Olympics coming up, using the HWL as a platform to assess the rest of their roster.
However, India coach Roelant Oltmans will not let these facts take the sheen off what he called is a ‘special’ achievement.
“Every team makes their decision on who they bring but there are two sides to this. The other guys, they want to prove themselves because they want to take the chance to impress and make the Olympics. So they give it their all. There is quality missing, yes, but that quality will have the ball for only three minutes in a match. Also, we were not really with everyone as well. I understand sceptics and I accept it. But if Britain and Australia and Netherlands did bring their full team, there’s no guarantee that they could have done better,” Oltmans told.
Australia won gold, Belgium silver and Netherlands vs India ended 5-5, before India took the bronze with a 3-2 penalty shootout win.
The Dutchman has won everything hockey has to offer — so this bronze doesn’t make a huge difference to his CV. However, he admits that to win something with India is slightly more special than winning with other countries, simply because of the sheer history.
“When I left home I always said that one thing I want to bring back is glory to the country. Since it comes after such a long time, it’s special. Winning a medal in whichever country is — but it’s also about the situation and about the details. Especially here in India, where no one is looking at the process, only the outcome.”
Oltmans has been involved with Indian hockey for three years and was high-performance director when former coach Paul Van Ass was sacked after a spat with Hockey India chief Narinder Batra — and the 61-year-old gave some insight into how he managed the transition.
“I remember I said, ‘Listen guys, this should not influence your performance. We need to look from day one that this is what I need to do to play for my country.’ And the boys responded well. ‘I want you to continue this way,’ I said.”
Most importantly though, Oltmans didn’t have to make any radical changes to the methods the side were following. Having been with country for so long, it would have been ‘strange’ to do so. He also asked the players to use what had been imparted to them with all the coaches that they had played under.
“I asked the players what they had learnt from Michael Nobbs, Terry Walso and Paul Van Ass and to use that knowledge. You have to admire what these coaches taught them and respect it in the future as well,” Oltmans said.
What also worked in his favour was the fact that he was familiar with the players and vice-versa. He admits that there will always be disgruntled players when a new coach comes in, but they have to get used to it.
“For some players it is always like that — they will do better and learn faster under certain coaches. It’s like that everywhere else in the world but you have to get used to the methods. There are players who will be picked by one coach, and not by another.”
Oltmans leading the country to an important medal also took the glare away from the Van Ass saga, but he believes that his coaching stint should not be weighed on this achievement — but the Olympics.
“It’s always difficult to say we are over that saga after just one trophy. We have been close in a few tournaments, but this was the first time we capitalised so it looks like we are in the right direction. But only after Rio we can be sure. You can get up quickly and even come down, but aim is to go upwards always.”
What this medal does though, is overcome the mental block that the players had about winning — and the belief that they can achieve.
“If there is a block, it’s the pressure of overcoming the threshold of failing again and again. This medal helps there. What’s also important is players showed leadership. With us, on the pitch you cannot recognise leaders, but this game it was very recognisable and that’s important,” he said.