June 22, 2017 by admin

No room for complacency: Oltmans

London, June 22
Jolted by a loss to the Netherlands, India would look to regroup quickly when they take on Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the Hockey World League Semifinal here tomorrow.
After registering three convincing wins against Scotland, Canada and Pakistan, India wasted many chances to slump to a 3-1 defeat against the Netherlands. Going by form and ranking, world No. 6 India are the favourites against Malaysia. However, Roelant Oltmans’ men cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes against world No. 14 Malaysia, who are capable of springing a surprise on their day.
While striker Akashdeep Singh has been in superb form, scoring some scintillating goals in the tournament, he would need support upfront from the other forwards. India’s midfield, led by Sardar Singh and skipper Manpreet Singh, will have to take more responsibility, while the inexperienced defence needs to pull up its socks.
Oltmans has warned his team to guard against complacency. The 1-0 defeat against Malaysia last month in the Azlan Shah Cup would be fresh in the minds of the Indians. “We need to play with caution and give no room for mistakes because even a little bit of complacency in the knockout stage will put us out of the tournament,” said Oltmans. “Malaysia is a good side and no opponent can be taken lightly.”
The Dutchman is pleased with the display of his strikers so far in the tournament. “This has been a good aspect for us with the team scoring some fantastic field goals and I am pleased with how the forwards have done so far. However, we must get better with each match and still there are some areas of concern such as starting well and starting consistently well,” Oltmans said.