Mental state of teams will be decisive in Olympics: Roelant Oltmans

Former Indian men’s hockey team head coach Roelant Oltmans believes that the Indian hockey team will be one of the strongest contenders for a medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020. He has also said that his mental toughness will be a deciding factor for any team’s success in Tokyo.
“For me the Indian men’s hockey team is one of the top five contenders to win a medal in Tokyo,” Roelant said during Hockey India’s podcast series ‘Hockey Te Charcha’ ahead of the Olympic Games. The team has shown good consistency in the last two years competing with the best teams in the world. India has already shown that it can beat teams like Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, although doing so at the Olympics would be a different matter. The mindset of the team is the deciding factor when you are trying to win a tournament like this. You can’t panic if you’re behind in a game or are too excited to be ahead. You have to take control of every situation.
Oltmans believes that the weather conditions in Tokyo will be another important factor in the Olympic Games, as the humidity is expected to be high in Tokyo during this time. He said that all the top teams in the world are on the same level in terms of physical fitness, so neither team has a direct advantage, but the weather conditions will be more favorable for India, because Indian players know how to play in that type of environment. . The weather will certainly be unfavorable for the European teams and they will have to adjust to it.
It is noteworthy that under the coaching of Rowlant, the Indian men’s hockey team reached the quarter-final stage of Rio Olympics 2016. He believes that the team has made progress since then and appreciates the development process initiated by Hockey India.
To this, he said, “Since becoming the High Performance Director of Hockey India in 2013 and then the head coach of the men’s team in 2015, my main aim has always been to prepare the team to ensure a medal in the Tokyo Olympics.” India has made progress in this regard with its location across the globe and Hockey India through its professional setup has created an environment to make this possible. Of course you need a good development plan, but you also need resources to execute a plan. Hockey India and Sports Authority of India (SAI) have played a major role in formulating and implementing this plan for the development of hockey in India.