Coach Janneke Schopman should bow out gracefully!

India womenrsquos hockey has not enjoyed a good run in the last few months be it their Asian Games bronze medalfinish in China their unimpressive fourthplace show at the Paris Olympic qualifier tournament in Ranchi or their string of defeats at the ongoing FIH Pro League in Odisha And now with coach Janneke Schopman 46 alleging gender discrimination by Hockey India officials things can only get gloomier for Indian hockeyrsquos women in blueSchopmanrsquos contract with the national team ends around JulyAugust and her latest rant against Indian hockeyrsquos parent body has only confirmed her departure thereafterWhen Schopman a 2006 Madrid World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medalwinning player took over the coaching reins from compatriot Sjoerd Marijne of the Netherlands after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she was expected to take the Indian womenrsquos team to a higher level Under Marijne skipper Rani Rampalrsquos team had achieved a historic fourthplace finish at Tokyo so the bar was already high However the fact that the Indian womenrsquos hockey teamrsquos only two significant achievements under Schopman since then are bronze medal finishes at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games clearly shows that she hasnrsquot been able to deliver even reasonable highs with this team Furthermore the teamrsquos failure to qualify for this yearrsquos Paris Olympics despite being given a more than reasonable chance to do so at home has only confirmed her status as an underachiever with this team At the eightteam Olympic qualifiers in Ranchi where only one team was ranked above the Savita Punialed Indian team a topthree finish would have confirmed Team Indiarsquos flight tickets to Paris However a defeat to Japan in the bronzemedal match broke the hearts of hockey aficionados across the country Thereafter the Indian women have played eight FIH Pro League matches in their own backyard at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and have lost five times twice each against China and the Netherlands and once against AustraliaAlso Read Indian womenrsquos team defeats Australia 10 for second win in the eventThere may be many reasons attributed to the Indian womenrsquos teamrsquos failures in the last two years but none more significant than the shocking ouster of mercurial striker Rampal immediately after the Tokyo Olympics Schopman did not utter a word about the axing of the teamrsquos erstwhile skipper and star striker who has till date not announced her retirement from the game considering shersquos still good enough to don the Indian jersey Some of Hockey Indiarsquos bosses were said to be behind Rampalrsquos ouster but being the chief coach Schopman should have addressed the issue publicly at least for the sake of the fans of this globallyacclaimed player who could have been the perfect finisher for a team that has been lacking one for almost two years nowSchopman has had her good moments with this team too Under her many junior India players have gone on to don the senior jersey Besides the younger players in the senior squad have enjoyed a lot of encouragement and support from the veteran coach Also being the teamrsquos analytical coach under Marijne before taking over as chief coach Schopman has worked hard on shaping this teamrsquos strategies based on her sound scientific and technical knowledge of modern hockey There has been a spring in the step as this team tends to attack a lot more aggressively than the teams of yesteryear with switchovers and counters being executed with flair Finally the language barrier notwithstanding Schopman has had many oneonone sessions with her girls whenever she felt that the chips are low due to certain onfield or offfield circumstances Unfortunately for her though those chats have not proportionately resulted in success on the hockey turfThe next major assignment for coach Schopman is the away leg of the FIH Pro League in MayJune And going by the results at home this seems to be a much bigger challenge to tackle Schopman will do well though to hold her head up high and exit the Indian hockey scene gracefully if she has to later this year as there has been no lack of effort either from her or the girls Grumbling about a system that has given Indian womenrsquos hockey fair international exposure and opportunities may not be a good enough defence for an acclaimed professional