New Delhi: India’s uninspiring display at the Junior World Cup Hockey has raised many questions.
This was the first time that the junior squad were training under a foreign coach, a scientific advisor, a goalkeeping coach, besides having got a chance to play in a few senior tournaments as part of their build-up.
They are a talented bunch, many of whom have had the experience of playing at the senior level.
Skipper Manpreet Singh is an Olympian.
High performance director Roelant Oltmans of Holland, in-charge of both the senior and junior teams, however indicated that changes “will be necessary”.
“We have started to go in a certain direction. And one of the worst things we can do immediately is to say that we are disappointed and let’s turn around in
another direction. I don’t believe in it, not at all,” said Oltmans, as India crashed out of contentionwith a draw against Korea on Tuesday.
“The coaching staff might change, but that doesn’t mean the strategy will change. It might be
necessary to change some personnel and their contracts are about to end too, that is for sure.” The hosts lost 2-3 to Holland — a higher ranked team — but their scrappy win over Canada and the draw against Korea left a lot of questions.
