The news was expected, following days of intense speculation and blame game that involved van Ass and Narinder Batra
Paul van Ass
New Delhi: It is official. With just 12 months and 11 days to go for the Rio Olympic Games, the Indian hockey team are left without a coach. The nine-member organising committee of Hockey India that met here on the day to take a call on Paul van Ass’ future, decided against “retaining him”.
The news was expected, following days of intense speculation and blame game that involved van Ass and HI president Narinder Batra. The Dutchman revealed last week that he had been “fired”, while the federation blamed the coach for “having gone missing without any information”. On the day though, van Ass made his stand clear sharing all the e-mails exchanged between him and high performance director Roelant Oltmans — who had first informed van Ass that his services were not needed by HI — saying he did not want to leave “with his reputation tarnished”.
In a mail dated July 13 that is with this paper, Oltmans wrote to van Ass, “Very regrettable that the adventure has to end so quickly... The dismissal procedure in the Netherlands is not as per the first of the month but until one month after cancel date. If you arrive in India on July 18, the SAI may ask you to carry out activities till August 18.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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