Hockey coach Roelant Oltmans: Don't want to see such a performance again

Roelant Oltmans was left fuming after a lacklustre India lost 0-3 to Argentina in the opening match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final

Raipur: Roelant Oltmans was left fuming after a lacklustre India lost 0-3 to Argentina in the opening match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final, prompting the Dutchman to say he doesn’t want to witness a repeat of such a 'below-par' showing from his wards in the rest of the tournament.

Oltmans, chief coach of the Indian team, said the hosts were completely outplayed by a better Argentina team on the field yesterday at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Raipur.

"For me the result is not important, for me what is important is performance and today our performance was by far below the level that we normally can show. The performance was really insufficient today," Oltmans said.

"If they continue to commit such errors in the rest of the tournament then it’s a serious concern. What I saw today I don’t want to see it anymore."

"From my point of view we didn’t stick to our game. Argentina is a team who likes to defend and rely on fast counter-attacks. They didn’t allow us to come to their circle too often apart from the fourth quarter. Argentina was clearly the better side today," he added.

The Dutchman, who is also the High Performance Director of India hockey, termed his side’s performance as 'disappointing.'

"I think the players know they can play better than what they showed today. When you play the first match of the tournament you want to play your best hockey," Oltmans said.

"It was a disappointment conceding an early goal. That was unnecessary and it looked like we failed to overcome that situation till the dying moments of the first half when he had the first shot at the goal," he added.

Argentina scored from three penalty corner situations with Gonzalo Peillat (3rd, 60th minute) finding the net twice while Joaquin Menini (24th) scored the other in the Pool B encounter. — PTI

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