Women’s Hockey WC: Schopman sees positives in New Zealand loss

Amstelveen, July 8

India’s coach Janneke Schopman sounded optimistic despite her team’s loss to New Zealand in its final pool game at the hockey Women’s World Cup yesterday.

India lost 3-4 to New Zealand to remain winless in Pool B. Vandana Katariya (4th minute), Lalremsiami (44th) and Gurjit Kaur (59th) scored for India, while New Zealand got their goals through Olivia Merry (12th, 54th), Tessa Jopp (29th) and Frances Davies (32nd). India earned 15 penalty corners but converted just one.

There are a lot of things to learn from this game but I have seen glimpses of what we can do. Our performance in the second half showed that we can play some good hockey. —Janneke Schopman, India Coach

“I am proud of our fight as we worked really hard to stay in the game. Unfortunately, we made some defensive mistakes and New Zealand were very clinical in their finish,” said Schopman.

Despite finishing third with two points, India remained in contention for a quarterfinals berth. India will play Spain in their crossover match on Sunday, with a last-8 berth on the line. “There are a lot of things to learn from this game but I have seen glimpses of what we can do. Especially, our performance in the second half showed that we can play some good hockey,” Schopman added.

Netherlands, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia have directly qualified for the quarterfinals after topping their pools. — Agencies