The Indian women’s hockey team head coach Janneke Schopman has resigned days after talking in opposition to the treatment she obtained from Hockey India. Schopman lately mentioned that she felt that’s not ‘valued and revered’ by her Hockey India employers and felt ‘alone for the final two years’.
Hockey India confirmed her resignation by way of a press release. “Janneke Schopman, Chief Coach of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team, resigned from her post today. The Dutch coach submitted her resignation to Hockey India President Padma Shri Dr Dilip Tirkey after the conclusion of Indian Women’s Hockey Team’s outing in the home leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League in Odisha,” the Indian physique mentioned in a press release.
The governing physique of the game in India mentioned that it could be in search of a brand new coach to assist the team put together for the  Women’s World Cup 2026 and Los Angeles Olympics 2028.
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“She had taken over the reins from former Chief Coach Sjoerd Marine under whose tutelage India finished in a historic fourth position at the Tokyo Olympics. At the back of the disappointment at the recent Olympic Qualifiers, her resignation has paved the way for Hockey India to look for a suitable Chief Coach for the Women’s Hockey Team who could prepare the Indian Team for the next Women’s World Cup in 2026 and Los Angeles Olympics 2028. It is time to begin a fresh chapter in Indian women’s hockey with the players progress being at the centre of our focus,” Hockey India additional added.
Recently, Schopman claimed that she didn’t get valued and revered and likewise mentioned that the women’s team will get a distinct treatment as in comparison with the lads’s team. “Very hard, very hard. Because, you know, I come from a culture where women are respected and valued. I don’t feel that here,” she mentioned on coping with officers as quoted by the Indian Express. She had additionally opened on her future with the team. “Maybe, even though I do know it’s powerful. But like I mentioned, I like the women and I see a lot potential. But it is rather onerous for me as a person.ÂÂ
She was the analytical coach from 2020 onwards and took the top coach’s function after Marine resigned following the profitable Tokyo Olympics, the place the Indian women’s team completed fourth. “Even when I was the assistant coach some people wouldn’t even look at me or wouldn’t acknowledge me or wouldn’t respond and then you become the chief coach and all of a sudden people are interested in you. I struggled a lot with that,” she added.
“I look at the difference at how men’s coaches are treated… between me and the men’s coach, or the girls and the men’s team, just in general. They (the women players) never complain and they work so hard. I shouldn’t speak for them so I won’t. I love them. I think they work so hard, they do what I ask, they wanna learn, wanna do new things. But for me personally, coming from the Netherlands, having worked in the USA, this country is extremely difficult as a woman, coming from a culture where, yeah, you can have an opinion and it’s valued. It’s really hard,” she mentioned on the distinction between males’s and women’s groups.
The Indian women’s team has did not qualify for the Paris Olympics as they misplaced the FIH Olympic Qualifier third-fourth place match to Japan 0-1.
