Marijne replaces Oltmans as Indian men's hockey coach

Holland's Sjoerd Marijne, who is currently serving as the coach of Indian women's hockey team, has been appointed as the head coach of the men's hockey team.

The announcement of his appointment was made by newly appointed Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

"Current Chief Coach of Indian Senior Women Hockey Team, Mr. Waltherus Marijne, will take over as Chief Coach of Indian Senior Men Hockey Team," Rathore tweeted.

43-year-old Marijne, who was appointed as the Indian women's coach in February earlier this year, replaces Dutchman Roelant Oltmans.

The Dutchman, who was appointed as the Indian women's coach in February earlier this year, has never worked with a national men's team before.

Besides, World Cup-winning junior team coach Harendra Singh was appointed High Performance Specialist coach of the senior women's team.

"Pleased to announce appt of Sh Harendra Singh, Dronacharya Award winner,as High Performance Specialist Coach fr Indian Snr Women Hockey Team (sic)," Rathore said in another tweet.

The post of men's coach had been vacant since last Saturday when Oltmans was sacked following a string of poor performances of the men's team in the recent past.

Harbinder Singh, chairman of the Hockey India Selection Committee, had said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the important tournaments in next two years.

"The committee was convened since we are collectively not satisfied with the Indian Men's Hockey team's performance in 2016 and 2017 and feels that wins in Asia can't be a benchmark for success anymore," Harbinder had said.

"We need to show results beyond intent in key international tournaments where the sporadic success over the last two years is more incidental than deliberate. To make results a reality, we need to make hard decisions for the greater good of the future of Hockey in India. The current format of coaching was not showing results beyond a certain level," he added.