Exclusive: India Women’s Hockey Captain Savita Punia Credits Janneke Schopman for Success
New Delhi: India women’s hockey team captain Savita Punia has put national team head coach Janneke Schopman above all for her success at the international level. Punia has been the backbone of the Indian team for the past few years and has led the team to perfection in the absence of Rani Rampal, who has lost her place in the team in 2022.
2022 has been the best for Punia. Not only she led the side to bronze medals in Asian Cup and Commonwealth Games, the 32-year-old was also adjudged the FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of Year award. It was under her leadership India won the inaugural FIH Nations Cup a couple of days ago beating Spain in the final.
“Definitely,” came the answer from Punia when asked if she rates 2022 as her best. “I have always said this that, ‘goalkeepers enjoy playing the game when they have the experience.’ For me the last two years have been great,” she said in an exclusive interaction with Zee News.
“When I started playing, I didn’t have any target, but as I grew as a player, I set my own targets. You can say that I am happy today because I get that respect from my team and winning awards shows that you are on the right track,” she added.
Schopman joined the Indian women’s team as an analytical coach in 2020 before being appointed as full-time head coach after fellow Dutch Sjoerd Marijne declined a contract extension.
“Since my debut in 2008, I have worked under many goalkeeper coaches like Tingongleima Chanu, Helen Mary and Bharat Chhetri but I feel the one who helped me the most on and and off the field is our current coach Janneke Schopman,” Punia said about the two-time Olympic medallist.
“The points she makes to everyone in the team may sound very small but there lies a big meaning behind that. Being a two-time Olympic medallist, she herself conducts the goalkeeping sessions herself and I think that has helped me a lot,” she added.
With 2022 done and dusted, Punia eyes Asian Games glory next year as it would help India to qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics directly.
“2022 has been a great year for the Indian team. After Commonwealth Games win, the motivation and the intensity among the players have always been high. The Asian Games 2023 will be a our main target as victory over there would give us the direct ticket to Olympics.
“We have 4-5 months before the Asian Games and we hope to do well in this period as a preparation for the continental tourney. We are going to South Africa next,” added the goalkeeper.
Hangzhou is scheduled to host the Asian Games next year. The Indian team retuned to the country on Monday after staging a 1-0 win against Spain in the inaugural FIH Nations Cup final which also helped them top qualify for the 2023-24 Pro League.
