It's not really a new beginning: Hockey captain Sardar Singh on Oltmans appointment

From the highs of Olympic qualification and the well-received #DeshKeLiye campaign, to the lows of crushing losses to top teams in the Hockey World League semifinals in Belgium and coach Paul van Ass’ ugly ouster — it has been a roller-coaster few months for the Indian Hockey Team.

The recently-sacked chief coach’s spat with the Hockey India chief is well-documented. So is the fact that the Indian team has had to compete under five different coaches in Narinder Batra’s regime so far. Like Ashish Magotra from Firstpost had commented , the Indian team could/should have begun preparing in earnest for Rio 2016 – set everything else aside, put on the blinkers and focus on the Olympics… and the Olympics alone.

Indian captain, Sardar Singh, however, is defiant that the side will still carry on unaffected by the saga. In an interview with The Indian Express , Sardar admitted it is frustrating at some level for the players to see coaches come and go, but in the current scenario having high performance director Roelant Oltmans as the new chief coach could be a ‘blessing in disguise.’

“What has happened is between coach, Hockey India and SAI. The good thing is none of us let it affect us,” said Sardar in the interview. “The best part about whatever has happened is that Roelant has been with the team for the last three years and knows the positives and negatives of every player. He has been there at almost every training session and tour of ours. So it’s not really a new beginning in that sense.”

Responding to a question whether the players were left a bit clueless by van Ass’ methodologies, Sardar said that it was partly because of the time it takes to adjust to a new coach’s ideas. “Maybe that was because we really had a very short time with him. He could not share all his ideas with us as he got just three-four months. If he would have stayed longer, he would have been able to explain to us his strategies and reasons behind his decisions in a better way,” he said.

As a fall-out of the HWL debacle, experienced defender Gurbaj Singh was singled out by the Hockey India committee for causing factions within the squad, something that Sardar denies vehemently.

“Absolutely not [there are no factions>. If Gurbaj said it, and I don’t know if he has, it must be for the good of the team. Look we say some things on the field but it stays there and it should be that way,” said Sardar. “Those things are said in heat of the moment and we get over it immediately. So it is wrong to bring these issues up. The reason we performed so well last year was that as a unit, we were all together.”

For his part, Gurbaj Singh has hit back at his detractors. In an interview with DNA after he was excluded from the squad for its upcoming 15-day European tour, Gurbaj dismissed the allegations.

“As far as my relationship with players is concerned, please go and ask how much we all love each other. All these talks of creating rift are completely baseless. Let the committee call me and give me a chance to explain my position on this entire cooked up issue. I want to confront any person who has levelled these allegations against me,” said Gurbaj.

Gurbaj also said he was not aware of coach Van Ass being unhappy with him, after he was asked to change his position from right link to right half, despite initial apprehension from the player.

Click here to read Sardara’s full interview with The Indian Express.