The Olympic dream might already be over for the Indian women’s hockey team, after they lost to Japan 0-1 in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, but there’s a lot that needs to be corrected within the team. Having said that, chief coach Janneke Schopman said that it was inconsistent umpiring that led to India’s downfall.
The coach for the Netherlands said that she was frustrated by the officiating as the umpires gave Japan penalty corners for fouls outside the circle and allowed the goal off penalty corner despite being scored from outside the circle.
“I also thought the umpires were a little bit, you know, giving mixed signals. We were pushed off the ball. They get penalty corners outside the circle, the penalty corner they scored was from outside the circle. The same stuff happens in the third quarter and we don’t get a penalty corner,” said Schopman after the loss. “So I’m frustrated with that sort of stuff, not with the girls. The girls are trying.”
The coach defended the players saying, the loss is going to hurt for a long time. “And it’s going to hurt for a long time because when the Olympics is on the TV, we know we wanted to be there and to be completely honest, I think we have the quality to be there. I know we have the quality and I think we should have been there, but we’re not. So that hurts.”
