Australian Michael Nobbs has been sacked as the chief coach of the Indian hockey team for non-performance, becoming the fourth foreign coach to be shown the door before completion of the full tenure.
Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra said that Nobbs' contract has been terminated, almost three years before it was to expire. Roelant Oltmans, who is currently the High Performance Manager, has been given charge of the team until a new coach is appointed.
Batra, however, claimed it was the Australian who decided to quit as he felt that he was not doing justice to his job.
"He himself had offered to resign during a meeting with Roelant Oltmans. There were some issues with his coaching style. Oltmans felt there were some areas in which we were lacking and Nobbs was not being able to rectify them and not producing the desired results," Batra told PTI.
"Accordingly, we have informed the SAI that we are not willing to avail his services anymore. For the time being Oltmans will take the additional responsibility of coaching the men's team. He will be in charge of the team till we find a suitable replacement which might take 2 to 3 months time," he added.
Sports Authority of India Director General Jiji Thomson said that Nobbs' contract was terminated yesterday after giving him a month's notice period.
"There was a clause in his (Nobbs) contract which states that we can stop availing his services by giving one month's notice. So, accordingly we informed him and gave him the notice period yesterday," Thomson.
Thomson said SAI decided to discontinue Nobbs' services on the recommendation of Hockey India.
"Hockey India approached us saying that Nobbs had expressed his desire to be relieved from his duties due to non-performance. As Nobbs was under SAI's payroll, we had to take the final decision," the SAI DG said.
