Ranchi, Jan 18 (PTI) Indian women’s hockey team chief coach Janneke Schopman wants her players to show up against Japan in the third-fourth place classification match after their loss against Germany in the semifinals of the FIH Olympic Qualifier here on Thursday.
India fumbled in the shootout to lose 3-4 after the match ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
But India still have a chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics if they beat Japan on Friday as the top three teams from this tournament will qualify for this year’s quadrennial extravaganza.
“We will discuss it again. We need to give time to the disappointment. We have to rest tomorrow morning and I know they will be ready. Some of them are already ready but we need some time,” Schopman said.
“They get a little bit impatient and when they get impatient…but I can’t always blame them for it. It was great that we could manage a large part of the game today.
“I know we can play but we have to show up and have to keep fighting. We don’t have a guarantee tomorrow because Japan will also want to win. Japan also wants to go to Paris, so we have a fight in our hands. Hopefully, we can show up and take the qualification place.” The Dutch said India will appear in the match against Japan with a “never give up” attitude.
“For me it’s a separate game, what happened in the past it happened in the past. What matters is tomorrow we have to play,” Schopman said.
“Never giving up, so many players showed up today. We were always fighting and we never gave up.”
Source: PTI News
