Hockey India's Roelant Oltmans Says Bhopal Centre Needs New Synthetic Turf Fields

To prepare the senior men's national field hockey team for next year's World Cup, Hockey India High Performance Dir Roelant Oltmans and coach Terry Walsh have requested that the Sports Authority of India "replace both the synthetic turfs" at its Bhopal Centre by March, according to the PTI. The coaches have suggested that GreenFields TX synthetic surface, which will be used for the World Cup, and the Astroturf System 5 Synthetic surface "should be laid in place of the existing two fields to get the team acclimatised with the new surface, which the top hockey playing nations have been using for years." The coaches have stressed the need "to replace the synthetic turfs with the suggested ones most preferably before March." They "want the turf ready" by the time the Hockey India League will come to an end. In case only one turf can be replaced within the stipulated time frame, Oltmans has suggested that the SAI lay the GreenFields surface first "so that the Indian contingent can practice on it" (PTI, 12/5).