Friday, April 2, 2010

The Oltmans saga continues

T. N. Alagesh
nstsport@nst.com.my

MALAYSIAN Hockey Federation (MHF) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said yesterday he never confirmed that Dutchman Roelant Oltmans had been hired as national hockey coach.
Tengku Abdullah said the confirmation that Oltmans' services were almost secured was made by another party and the decision did not come from MHF.
He said MHF had included Oltmans as among the potential candidates and at the same time, the association had also a list of several other names of coaches from Europe and Australia.
"At the moment nothing is concrete, but the MHF council on Saturday will discuss in depth about the selected coach.
"We will also look into the salary payment methods as we are currently trying to secure sponsors after the National Sports Council (NSC) assured us they will support half of the wages," he said at the Sukpa Hockey Stadium after watching the Razak Cup Division Two match between Pahang and Selangor in Kuantan yesterday.
Former Netherlands coach Oltmans was recently the subject of much talk after he was said to have been chosen as the national coach.
Currently, locals Tai Beng Hai and Stephen van Huizen are coaching the national team, with the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh on May 6-16 their next assignment.