Janneke Schopman, the Indian ladies’s hockey staff 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 Categorical. Janneke Schopman gave the interview on Sunday after India defeated USA 2-1 of their ultimate match of the Rourkela leg of the FIH Hockey Professional 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 staff in 2020 and was subsequently made the chief coach after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. 

Janneke, the primary lady coach of the Indian hockey staff, broke down in the course of the interview, in accordance with the report, whereas talking about her day-to-day challenges within the high job and coping with Hockey India. 

“Very arduous, very arduous. As a result of, you understand, I come from a tradition the place ladies are revered and valued. I do not really feel that right 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 once I was the assistant coach some folks would not even have a look at me or would not acknowledge me or would not reply and then you definately develop into the chief coach and rapidly individuals are interested by you. I struggled lots with that,” she stated.

“I have a look at the distinction at how males’s coaches are handled… between me and the boys’s coach, or the women and the boys’s staff, simply on the whole. They (the ladies gamers) by no means complain and so they work so arduous. I should not communicate for them so I will not. I like them. I believe they work so arduous, they do what I ask, they wanna study, wanna do new issues,” Schopman stated. 

“However for me personally, coming from the Netherlands, having labored within the USA, this nation is extraordinarily tough as a lady, coming from a tradition the place, yeah, you may have an opinion and it is valued. It is actually arduous.”

She added that she ought to have left after the Commonwealth Video games in 2022 the place India received the bronze medal.

“If you happen to requested my household, I ought to have left after a yr. In hindsight, I ought to have left after the Commonwealth Video games as a result of it was too arduous for me to handle,” she stated.

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

“Possibly, even if I do know it is powerful. However like I stated, I like the women and I see a lot potential. However it is rather arduous for me as a person,” Janneke stated if she’s going to stick with the Indian staff or not.

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