NEW DELHI: Former Netherlands coach Paul Van Ass was on Friday appointed India’s men’s field hockey coach, making him the sixth foreigner to hold the post over the last decade.

Van Ass, who coached the Netherlands to a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, replaces Australian Terry Walsh, who resigned over a pay dispute in October.

Anthony Thornton of New Zealand was named the women’s coach, the state-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) also said, adding that details of their contracts were being worked out.

“The ministry of youth affairs and sports has already approved the proposal to appoint the two coaches and the paperwork is being processed with both of them,” SAI chief Ajit Sharan said in a statement.

Walsh resigned three weeks after guiding the men’s team to the Asian Games title that earned India a direct entry to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Another Dutchman, Roelant Oltmans, who helps coach the team, briefly took over after Walsh’s resignation and led the team into the semifinals of the eight-nation Champions Trophy in December.

Before Walsh, other foreign coaches who served the Indian men’s team over the last 10 years were Spaniard Jose Brasa, Australians Ric Charlesworth and Michael Nobbs and Germany’s Gerhard Rach.

India won the last of their eight Olympic men’s field hockey gold medals at the Western-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980. They have not won a major world title since then.