'Oltmans can help Indian coaches'

PUNE: Hockey World Cup-winner and national selectors' chairman BP Govinda on Monday said Indian coaches could still learn from their foreign counterparts and High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans maybe asked to guide them.
"We have always requested that the High Performance Director, whenever he is not with the Indian team, should train the Indian coaches," Govinda, in the city to watch the Senior men's national championships, said.
The 64-year-old, who was part of the 1975 World Cup-winning team, didn't give a direct response when asked if the time has come to appoint an Indian as the head coach of the national team but said the Indians shouldn't hesitate from foreigners. "Just because I am a former player, I won't accept (the coaching job)," Govinda, who won three consecutive Asian Games gold medals between 1970 and 1978 besides the World Cup silver in 1973, said.
"Myself and people like Ajit Pal were all qualified coaches, we have done the NIS course in Patiala. But we belong to the natural turf (era) and so much has changed since the advent of artificial turf.
"Indian coaches are good, but they can pick up from the foreigners what are the good things that you don't know and leave out what you don't want. You don't have to take in 100 percent. They (Europeans) have certain standards and knowledge that we don't know." The Indian team has had coaches from various countries in the last few years, but Govinda said that won't affect the development of the team.