Uncertainty over Coach Shopman’s future after not qualifying for Olympics

There is uncertainty over the future of coach Yanek Shopman after the Indian women’s hockey team failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics here on Friday. The Indian team lost 0-1 to Japan in the third place match of the FIH Qualifiers, shattering its dream of qualifying for the Olympics. For Japan, Kana Urata scored a decisive goal from a penalty corner in the sixth minute. “I think we were mentally prepared after yesterday’s loss to Germany,” Shopman said after the match. We didn’t start well in defense either, and that happens sometimes. As a team, we played a fighting game and after conceding a goal in the beginning, we dominated the entire match. ”He said, ”We needed to score goals but we could not. If I knew the answer to why we couldn’t do this, I wouldn’t be standing here.

I would answer them during the game itself. The top three teams from the tournament qualified for the Olympics. Japan secured the Olympic ticket by finishing third and will reach Paris along with Germany and America. When asked about her future in the Indian team, Shopman said, “I don’t know about it.” The Netherlands coach’s contract was till the Paris Olympics and it remains to be seen whether Hockey India extends her tenure after this disappointing result. Shopman was the assistant to Sword Marine at the Tokyo Olympics in which the Indian women’s team finished fourth. Shopman said India had more dominance against Japan even though the result did not go in their favour. India missed many chances apart from nine penalty corners. The coach praised the fighting spirit of his team. “She was trying, she was coping,” he said.

Out of the last three matches we have played against Japan, we have dominated in this match. This time we could not score goals whereas in the previous matches we had scored goals. He said, “Japan’s goalkeeper made two mistakes yesterday. Germany got 15 penalty corners but they could not score. His penalty corner defense is good. Shopman said the pain of not qualifying for the Olympics will haunt him for a long time.

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