Has ignoring Rani and her experience left Indian women’s hockey wrong-footed? | Hockey News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: It’s always interesting to study how players are perceived differently when one coach makes way for another. But it’s also true that coaches deserve the benefit of doubt when it comes to managing players who are in the twilight of their careers, particularly when it comes to the greats and the legends. That is always a difficult task. The history of world sports is littered with such examples. India’s hockey icon and former captain Rani is the latest who finds herself in that situation — performing exceptionally and still out of the national team, but not giving up on another comeback.
Since the historic Olympic high of a fourth-place finish for an Indian women’s hockey team in Tokyo, Rani has found herself more out of than in the core group’s top 18 or 20 players, who play international fixtures. Interestingly, it has coincided with the baton of the Chief Coach changing hands. Sjoerd Marijne quit after the Tokyo Games in 2021 and his assistant Janneke Schopman was promoted to take over the reins.
Since then, the top two competitions India travelled to have been the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. At the World Cup India couldn’t qualify for the quarterfinals after failing to win even a single game in their group. They eventually finished ninth. In Birmingham, the Indian women returned to the CWG podium with a bronze-medal finish. Rani was ignored for both the assignments, with goalkeeper Savita wearing the captain’s armband.
Rani aggravated a hamstring injury during the Olympics and missed action until March this year. However, before the World Cup, she had reportedly recovered, with a personal effort that included recuperation at a private facility in Bengaluru. She was picked for the tour of Europe, which was interestingly before the World Cup in July this year, but was left on the bench for the first four matches. She was eventually given 12 minutes of game-time in the match against Belgium, possibly as part of ‘load management’ for a player returning from injury.
Those who saw those 12 minutes believe that the 27-year-old Rani didn’t show any signs of injury or of not being fit. Incidentally, it was Rani’s 250th game. Schopman felicitated her with a commemorative India jersey but didn’t pick her in the squad for the World Cup, saying Rani has “still not fully recovered from injury rehabilitation”.

(India coach Janneke Schopman with Rani – Hockey India Photo)
Whether Schopman’s reason had a rhetoric overtone or not can’t be ascertained, but insiders told TimesofIndia.com that “Rani had no fitness issues” at the time of squad selection for the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and even presently at the national camp for the upcoming Nations Cup — a new tournament that is a tier below the FIH’s top-flight Pro League.
TimesofIndia.com tried contacting both Rani and Schopman but without success.
Rani has chosen to quietly keep at it, take whatever opportunities come her way and let her stick to do all the talking. One such opportunity was the recently concluded National Games in Gujarat, where she represented her home state Haryana.
If numbers don’t lie, then Rani’s fitness issues should be a thing of the past.
In six matches at the National Games, she scored a jaw-dropping 18 goals, including two hat-tricks, five goals in the semifinal and Haryana’s gold-medal winning goal in the final. All this against teams studded with fellow current international core-group players.

When coach Schopman and the Hockey India selectors sit down to pick the Nations Cup squad, it will be difficult to ignore Rani on performance and fitness grounds. If a player is asked to prove himself or herself on the pitch, those numbers should be enough to tick most of the boxes in Rani’s favour.
“Rani is an experienced player. We have to use such players, but it depends on the coach how he or she wants to do that,” said Paramjeet Singh, the coach of the Madhya Pradesh (MP) women’s hockey team at the National Games, while sharing with TimesofIndia.com his first-hand experience of watching Rani play in Gujarat.
“Many international players (who played at the National Games) didn’t click and couldn’t score goals. Rani, however, was able to do that,” he added.
“We need the output of her experience. Such players are psychologically (mentally) very strong inside the D (striking circle). Rani too has that. Like you see, she scored such crucial goals against Jharkhand, against Uttar Pradesh too. These are good teams with experienced players,” Paramjeet further told TimesofIndia.com.

Paramjeet was critical of keeping Rani out of the Indian team, pointing out how the team’s performance has not improved while she has been kept out, particularly at the World Cup, where India failed to reach the knockout rounds.
“Did the team’s performance improve after keeping Rani out? We didn’t play well at the World Cup…If the team had played well by keeping Rani out, then I would have 100 percent agreed with the decision,” the MP coach said.
“Experience” remained the keyword when TimesofIndia.com approached another coach who was present at the National Games in Gujarat earlier this month.
Manoj, who coaches the Jharkhand women’s team, said Rani “played well”. In fact, it was the Jharkhand team in the semis against whom Rani was at her best and scored all the five goals in Haryana’s 5-2 win.
“Yes, she played well. Her experience benefited Haryana when we played against them. Whatever chances she got, she converted most of them into goals,” said Manoj talking to TimesofIndia.com.
“In my observation, her fitness is fine, although I can’t comment about international level…The coach of the Indian team (Schopman) must be better and more knowledgeable than me,” he further observed. “Rani encourages her team, has the ability to take the team forward with her.”

In a subtle way after the National Games, Rani — a Khel Ratna and Padma Shri awardee — dropped a hint that she is working hard to earn a last hurrah, possibly at the Asian Games, which have been rescheduled for next year in China.
“Turning up for Haryana and enjoying every single moment on the pitch at this National Games reminded me once again why I love this game so much and no matter the hardships, aim is always to do well for the team,” Rani had tweeted after leading Haryana to a gold medal at the National Games.
It can’t, however, be denied that 14 years of international hockey has had a lot of wear and tear on Rani’s body, including the worst phase of recovering from a nasty back injury. Rani has always credited the team’s former physio Wayne Lombard for helping her through that phase. But it’s also a fact that each time she has managed to climb back up from those pits to not just take India to newer heights – like at the Olympics – but also be on the top of her own game. She, perhaps, wants to do that one more time.
Plus, it also raises another interesting question. Did India coaches before Schopman do better with Rani’s workload management to get the best out of her?

Sources have told TimesofIndia.com that coach Schopman has already tick-marked the names she wants in her Nations Cup squad and has also zeroed in on the key players for the Asian Games. But until that list gets the selectors’ stamp, it can’t be denied that Rani’s performance at the National Games has sent the ball back into Schopman and Hockey India’s court.