India’s women hockey team coach Janneke Schopman says India ‘extremely difficult for women’
Indian women’s hockey team coach Janneke Schopman has accused the officials of Hockey India of discriminatory behaviour. Speaking to The Indian Express, Janneke Schopman said, I come from a culture where women are respected and valued. I don’t feel like that here. I think it’s very difficult. Schopman, the first woman to coach an Indian national hockey team, broke down as she described the preferential treatment enjoyed by the men’s team.
The former Dutch international was speaking after India defeated the United States via a tie-breaker in a FIH Pro League match in Odisha on Sunday.
She further added on her stint with the team as India’s women hockey team failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, “I love the girls. I think they work very hard, they do what I say, they want to learn, want to do new things, but for me personally, coming from the Netherlands, After working in the United States, this country is extremely difficult as a woman.”
Janneke Schopman, a former player of the Netherlands women’s team, said that her opinion has not been given enough importance during her tenure.
While talking to Indian Express, Janneke Schopman said that the words and thoughts of women in India should not be ignored.
There is a lot of discrimination between women’s and men’s teams. Janneke Schopman said, ‘I have seen that there is discrimination between male and female coaches.’
Janneke Schopman joined the women’s team as an analytical coach in January 2020. The head coach was Sjoerd Marijne. Suresh Marine’s tenure ended after Tokyo Olympics and Janneke Schopman got the responsibility of the team.
“Even when I was the assistant coach some people wouldn’t even look at me or wouldn’t acknowledge me… and then you become the chief coach and all of a sudden people are interested in you. I struggled a lot with that,” she said.
Asked what was hardest, she said: “The fact that I feel — I don’t even know if it’s true — that I am not taken seriously.”
Hockey India officials could not be contacted immediately for a comment.
Schopman’s two-year contract runs until the Paris Olympics later this year. Her team have failed to qualify for the Games, and are next slated to play in the European leg of the Pro League in May.
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Published: 19 Feb 2024, 08:27 PM IST
