Last Updated: January 15, 2024, 10:40 IST
Janneke Schopman’s message appears to have labored wonders for the staff. (Pic Credit: Hockey India)
Janneke Schopman gave the message after India misplaced 0-1 to the United States of their opener on Saturday and a loss or draw towards New Zealand would have dented their hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
“Just do yourself a favour and show up.” This was India’s chief coach Janneke Schopman’s message to her wards forward of the must-win Pool B FIH Women’s Olympic Qualifier match towards New Zealand right here on Sunday.
Schopman gave the message after India misplaced 0-1 to the United States of their opener on Saturday and a loss or draw towards New Zealand would have dented their hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
Also Read: Medvedev Beats Brutal Heat as Atmane Retires in Tears
But the Indian ladies dished out “near-perfect” hockey to tame New Zealand 3-1 of their second match.
“I said that no one’s perfect. We are going to make mistakes but that doesn’t matter. We just have to play and said to them ‘just do yourself a favour and show up today’. The biggest message was we need to connect as a team and we need to play together and I think they did that today,” Schopman mentioned after the win.
“It was close to perfect. We defended really well. New Zealand is a difficult team to play against because of their high balls. We could have awarded ourselves with one more goal. it shows where we are and it shows where we want to go in this tournament.”
The Dutch termed the win as staff effort.
“Everyone was good today. It was a complete team effort. The individual strengths of the players they showed and everyone played to their strengths.
“Today we had so much pressure because we knew that we can’t lose and even a tie is probably not enough. We all know what is at stake but I said to them ‘you owe to yourself to play hockey today. Let’s play hockey today and then see what happens’.”
Schopman mentioned they didn’t click on as a staff towards the USA.
“I don’t think there was a shift in the mindset, yesterday we were not good and struggled as a team. We fought and tried, but couldn’t click. Last night the girls had a very long team meeting. I think it was just a matter of figuring out how to play hockey again,” he mentioned.
Salima Tete was incredible for India towards the Black Sticks as she performed throughout the pitch to create probabilities for her staff.
“We have some injuries, so we have to be flexible. Salima is a very good player who can play in multiple positions. I told her to switch her positions and it became very difficult for opponent because they don’t know where she will end up,” Schopman mentioned.
India will play Italy within the remaining pool match on Tuesday.
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated news company feed – PTI)
Feroz KhanFeroz Khan has been masking sports activities for over 12 years now and is at present working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He launched into his journ…Read More
Source: www.news18.com
