Roelant Oltmans: ‘Malaysia cannot be taken lightly’

The India coach has warned against complacency as his team takes on 14th ranked Malaysia on Thursday in the Hockey World League Semifinals.

Roelant Oltmans was pleased with the performance of India’s forwards in the tournament.

India’s chief coach Roelant Oltmans has warned his team to guard against complacency when it takes on Malaysia in the quarterfinal of the Hockey World League Semifinal, here on Thursday.

Ranked sixth in the world, India starts as overwhelming favourite against the 14th placed Malaysia but its 1-0 defeat against the same opponent 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 knock-out stage will put us out of the tournament,” cautioned Oltmans. “Malaysia is a good side and no opponent can be taken lightly.”

Oltmans is pleased with the display of his strikers so far in the tournament, but the Dutchman said India needs to improve with every game. “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 and better with each match and still there are some areas of concern such as starting well and starting consistently well,” he said.