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Chennai: Former India women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal has hit out at the national team head coach Janneke Schopmann seeking answers why she has been left out for the past two years despite a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
It was India women’s first-ever fourth-place finish at the Olympic games. Soon after the Tokyo heroics, Rani was sidelined by a string of injuries. Although she did return to the national side, the 28-year-old never became a regular and demanded answers from Schopmann as to why she is being ignored.
“Whatever happened with me in the past two years is not right. As far as my career is concerned, despite coming back from injury, faring well and even playing during the National Games, I was not selected for the senior sidem,” said the striker on Thursday.
“Only the coach will be able to explain the reason,” an angry Rani said after being named as the Indian U-17 girls team coach. “But that incident has not forced me to plan for my retirement yet. I know I still have more to give to the sport as a player. I never want to give up. If I had to, I’d have given up after the Olympics,” she added.
Following the fourth-place finish in Tokyo, Rani was out of action for a few months due to surgery but, even after smashing a whopping 18 goals in just six matches at the 2022 National Games in Gujarat, she has found it difficult to get her place back in the national team.
“I will continue playing hockey since I believe I still have my playing career left,” Rani said.
Meanwhile, in a bid to promote the game at the youth level, Hockey India announced the formation of sub-junior (U-17) teams for both boys and girls.
While Rani will coach the female team, the boy’s team will be looked after by former India captain Sardar Singh. The announcement was made by Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey on the sidelines of the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai.
“Hockey India is looking to implement some changes in the coaching system, especially for youth at the grassroots level. For the first time in HI’s history, we are taking a step to make grassroots hockey formidable,” Tirkey said at a press conference.
“Although we have given importance to the U-21 level for quite some time, we will also give importance to the sub-junior level. So, for the first time, HI will make sub-junior U-17 Indian teams.
HI also announced a special coaching camp and international matches for the national sub-junior teams. The camp will aim at promoting and developing a strong grassroots structure and providing the young talent with a high performance environment.
The camp will be for 45-50 days and will commence on August 21 at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. It will be followed by international matches in Europe — Belgium and the Netherlands.
A total of 40 players will be selected for each camp. The players have been chosen on basis of their recent performances in the Hockey India Sub-Junior National Championships. A qualified coaching staff consisting of coach, two assistant coaches, two physios, two masseuse and a trainer will be accompanying each team.
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