Hockey
Pakistan appoints Roelant Oltmans as consultant for Junior Hockey Team
Experienced Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans will be guiding the Junior Pakistan men's hockey team for upcoming Asia Cup 2023.
Pakistan Hockey Federation announced the signing of experienced hockey coach Roelant Oltmans as the consultant for the Pakistan Junior Men's Hockey Team on Friday.
Oltmans is hired for the preparation of the upcoming Junior Men's Asia Cup in Salalah, Oman from May 23-June 1 which will be a qualifying event for the forthcoming FIH Junior Men's World Cup in Malaysia in December.
Pakistan is grouped along with India, Japan, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei while Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan are grouped in pool B.
The 68-year-old has also worked with the Pakistan national hockey side twice in the past in 2003 and 2018 only hired for the duration of the Junior Asia Cup.
Oltmans who arrived on Thursday in Pakistan has already started working the team. "My first challenge is to make sure the junior team qualifies for the Junior World Cup in India. If we succeed in making it to the semi-finals from Group A, we would be in a position to qualify for the World Cup," he told the media.
Before taking up the consultant role, Oltmans was working with the Madhya Pradesh hockey association with the junior and senior teams in the state. Under his guidance, the MP women's and men's won multiple medals at the national level with the latest being the bronze medal at the 36th national games.
India and Pakistan hold the most titles at Junior Men's Asia Cup with both the teams winning it thrice. While Pakistan won it in 1987, 1992, and 1996, India won it in 2004, 2008, and 2015.