The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is targetting to acquire the services of dutch man and former Indian hockey coach Roelant Oltmans, before the team heads to Commonwealth Games.
A reliable source in the federation told PTI that Oltmans, who has coached the team before in 2003-2004, was in Oman where Pakistan is playing a triangular tournament with Japan and the hosts.
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“Oltmans is in Oman to have talks with the PHF president and secretary and if he agrees to take up the new assignment, he will be leading the Pakistan team in the Commonwealth Games in April,” the source said.
“He has apparently asked for a few days to make a final decision as he has been heavily involved with Indian hockey at every level since 2013,” the source said.
Oltmans has served Indian hockey for over 4 years. He was appointed High-Performance Director by Hockey India in 2013. He later took over as head coach after another Dutchman, Paul Van Ass, was overthrown from the position of head coach in 2015. Oltmans enjoyed fine days in office as he helped Indian hockey team to rise in the FIH rankings and win some of the coveted tournaments.
However Hockey India was not impressed with India’s run in 2017 as they ended Oltmans’ tenure as Indian head coach, last September.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation was upset after a series of poor results by the national team last year, in which it barely managed to qualify for the World Cup finals, due to be held in India later this year.
“This is an important year for Pakistan Hockey as they will appear in a number of high profile tournaments including the Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy, Asian Games and World Cup. If they win the Asian Games it will put them directly into the next Olympic Games,” a PHF official said.
Pakistan failed to qualify for the last Olympics in Rio and it sparked off a big debate over the decline of hockey in the country. And the move to acquire the services of former Indian hockey coach Roelant Oltmans, may prove fruitful for them.
Not to forget, Pakistan is second most successful team in world hockey after India. They have 4 Hockey world cup and 3 Olympic gold medals.
