Indian hockey’s tussle with Rani Rampal

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When coaches change, teams often undergo a change of squad and this can often include new faces, as a substitute for older ones. Hockey is no exception, as former Indian captain and Khel Ratna Rani Rampal has now been left out of the national team by coach JannekeSchopman.

While she was a part of the team that won the fourth-place medal in the Olympics, Rani has increasingly been benched for important matches, after the exit of former coach SjoerdMarijne. Subsequently, Rani has failed to find a position in the team that played at the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, and the Birmingham CWG.

While she had been recovering from a hamstring injury, she is said to have recovered in time for the World Cups. Furthermore, while she was picked for the tour of Europe, she was only given 12 minutes of match time, during which it seemed that she had completely recovered from injury. However, she was still not picked for the World Cup as Schoppman believed she had not fully recovered.

However, according to insider reports, Rani had displayed no fitness issues before the World Cup, the CWG or even the upcoming Nations Cup. Meanwhile, Rani herself has made the best of the opportunities available to her and delivered impressive performances at the National Games where she scored 18 goals for Haryana, which included 2 hat-tricks, five goals in the semifinal and Haryana’s winning goal in the final.

According to Paramjeet Singh, coach of the Madhya Pradesh women’s hockey team, Rani’s strength and experience are crucial for the Indian team, which has not performed well in her absence, and failed to make it to the knockout stage in the World Cup.

Other coaches have echoed the same sentiments and have expressed the hope that Rani finds a spot in the squad for the Nations Cup.