Janneke Schopman, the Indian ladies’s hockey crew coach, has made some critical allegations in opposition to Hockey India, the governing physique of the game within the nation, in an interview to The Indian Express. Janneke Schopman gave the interview on Sunday after India defeated USA 2-1 of their closing match of the Rourkela leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 on the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. Janneke, an Olympic gold medallist with the Netherlands in 2008, began as an analytical coach with the Indian crew in 2020 and was subsequently made the chief coach after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. 

Janneke, the primary girl coach of the Indian hockey crew, broke down throughout the interview, in line with the report, whereas talking about her day-to-day challenges within the high job and coping with Hockey India. 

“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 stated. 

Janneke Schopman, 46, added she felt ‘alone lots within the final two years’ and claimed claimed she wasn’t ‘valued and revered’ by her employers. 

“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 stated.

“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,” Schopman stated. 

“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 added that she ought to have left after the Commonwealth Games in 2022 the place India gained the bronze medal.

“If you asked my family, I should have left after a year. In hindsight, I should have left after the Commonwealth Games because it was too hard for me to manage,” she stated.

Janneke future with the Indian ladies’s hockey crew has been a matter of hypothesis for the reason that facet did not qualify for the Paris Olympics in January after ending fourth within the Tokyo Olympics. 

“Maybe, despite the fact that I know it’s tough. But like I said, I love the girls and I see so much potential. But it is very hard for me as an individual,” Janneke stated if she’s going to stick with the Indian crew or not.

The India hockey federation is but to reply to the interview.