While suspense over who will be the coach of Indian hockey team continues, dna has reliably learnt that Hockey India has shortlisted three names for the job. There are two Dutchmen in the pruned list and one of them may get the nod.
While suspense over who will be the coach of Indian hockey team continues, dna has reliably learnt that Hockey India has shortlisted three names for the job. There are two Dutchmen in the pruned list and one of them may get the nod.
It has also been learnt that HI has started the process of interview. Two names that have surfaced are former Dutch greats — Hans Jorritsma and Maurits Hendriks— who could be of the same wavelength as that of current India high performance director and former Dutch great Roelant Oltmans.
Indian hockey is in a dilemma as far as hiring a coach is concerned. It all started with the exit of Australian chief coach Terry Walsh. He quit after guiding India to Asiad gold, after a 16 years, at the Incheon Asian Games last year.
This will be the first time that Indian hockey is going all Dutch. However, many Europeans have coached the national team — from Ric Charlesworth to Jose Brasa to Michael Nobbs to Terry Walsh — but no one kept the job long enough leave a lasting impression.
Jorritsma has been without a job for quite some time after his stint with Pakistan team in the mid-90s. Also, it was under his guidance that the Dutch won almost all the big titles with drag-flicker Floris Jan Bovelander converting at a rate of 99.99 per cent on all short corners.
That was the best time of Dutch hockey with both Jorritsma and his main weapon Bovelander creating havoc in the opponent's camp.
And who can forget that incredible 3-1 victory of Dutch against Pakistan at 1990 Lahore World Cup final. Two out of the three Dutch goals were scored on penalty corners and the home crowd went silent as Bovelander smacked in his direct shots with considerable ease above the Pakistani goalie's pads.
The other shortlisted candidate — Hendriks has the distinction of rejuvenating Spanish hockey, winning silver in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the Champions Challenge soon after.
However, his biggest contribution to modern hockey is the prevailing four-quarter format, adopted in all international hockey tournaments.
An HI official, who did not want to be named, said, "Hendriks was the first to suggest four quarters of 15-minute each. It was first implemented in India's Premier Hockey League (PHL) between 2005 until 2008."
HI president Narinder Batra said, "We're in the process of finalising hockey coach for our team. As soon as our process ends, Hockey India will sit with Sports Authority of India to finalise the formalities."
However, an insider said that Hendriks has a clear edge over other contenders because he is in touch with modern hockey and his experience and thoughts of four-quarter can be used to India's advantage.
"Jorritsma had an important role in Pakistan team but then his role was restricted to mainly training the team on a specific area, namely short corners and defence. He was not in charge of the entire squad, nor the principle planner," said an HI official.
With Oltmans calling the shots, HI would like to have someone of his choice who could implement his plans to take Indian hockey forward. A big barrier for the Dutch team to overcome will be the language and it would be interesting to see how they would communicate with Indian players.
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