Head coach Jeanneke Schopman’s mantra after the Indian women’s hockey team’s loss in the controversial shoot-out against Australia in 2022 Birmingham was, “Be angry, be disappointed, you have every right, but go ahead and get the crucial bronze medal before the match.” Just go.” Commonwealth Games semi-finals.
And his words of wisdom worked like magic as a wounded India They beat New Zealand 2–1 in a shoot-out after 1–1 in regulation time to clinch the CWG medal – a bronze – after a gap of 16 years.
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The Indians were undone by Fox, a formidable stopwatch by technical officials in the shoot-out against Australia, who eventually lost 0-3 after a 1-1 stalemate after 60 minutes.
He said, ‘We gave it all against Australia but how the shoot-out started was not very good. But it is what it is and we have to accept it and move on,” said an excited Schopman.
“After yesterday’s game, we had a team meeting and I said to the girls ‘Get angry, get frustrated, get all your anger out… But tomorrow is a new game and we need to settle down. We have to move on. We knew we could give a fight to any team and the girls showed a lot of flexibility.
A wrong timekeeping move by a technical official in the shootout robbed India of India’s chances against Australia on Saturday. Rosie Malone foiled Australia’s first attempt in a penalty shoot-out as India skipper Savita pulled off an excellent block.
But Malone got a second chance after a timekeeping error by the officials and this time the striker scored to change the pace of the game.
“It’s not the umpire’s fault, they were really apologetic. I request the FIH not to just look at the rules as more human than the rules,” Schopman said.
“There is no point in filing a complaint. Have we been robbed? Maybe but that doesn’t make any sense…”
The Dutch coach said he always believed in the potential of his players despite being a mediocre World Cup before CWG.
“I knew we could play hockey and we showed it. India has so much talent, they have very good hands so why shouldn’t they have more balls than the opponent.
“The World Cup taught us valuable lessons but the faith was always there. It takes time but we know we can compete with anyone.”
After going through some rough times taking over the reigns of the team, Schopman finally tasted success and apparently got emotional.
“I’m still emotional. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for me. Many or our matches in the World Cup were tough, 50-50. So all I wanted was for the girls to win and get a medal they deserve.”
India captain Savita, who went on to star in the win over New Zealand with her scintillating performance in the shoot-out, gave credit to Schopman.
“As a captain and a senior player, I would give all the credit for the medal to our coach Jananeke. He inspired us and told us not to give up till the last minute.”
Upon their return to the sports village, the Indian women were given a warm welcome by the men, with Manpreet Singh and her teammates lined up on both sides to applaud their female counterparts.
“It was special for us. It was a surprise. We didn’t know they were waiting for us to welcome us. Now we want to sleep with them,” said Savita.
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