Ritu Rani
It’s always fascinating to research how players are viewed differently when a coach changes. But it’s also true that managers of players at the end of their careers, particularly those who are greats and legends, should be given the benefit of the doubt.
That is a task that is never easy. There are numerous instances like this throughout the history of sports.
Rani, a hockey legend and former captain of India, is the most recent player to find herself in that predicament; she is still performing admirably while being left off the national team, but she is still determined to make a comeback.
Rani has discovered herself more outside of than in the core group of the top 18 or 20 players, who play international games, since the historic Olympic high of an Indian women’s hockey team finishing in fourth place in Tokyo.
It is interesting that it has happened at the same time that the Chief Coach’s baton has changed. After the 2021 Tokyo Games, Sjoerd Marijne resigned, and Janneke Schopman, his assistant, was elevated to take over.
Since then, the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, as well as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, have been the top two events that India has traveled to.
India failed to finish in the top two in their group at the World Cup and was unable to advance through the quarterfinals.
They ultimately came in ninth. The Indian women’s team finished with a bronze medal in Birmingham, bringing them back to the CWG podium. Goalkeeper Savita wore the captain’s armband for both missions, ignoring Rani.
Rani’s Injury
During the Olympics, Rani’s hamstring injury worsened, keeping her out of action until March of this year. She apparently healed, nevertheless, before to the World Cup, thanks to an individual effort that included resting at an exclusive facility in Bengaluru.
Intriguingly, she was chosen for the European tour before the World Cup in July of this year, but she sat out the first four games. As part of possible “load management” for a player returning from injury, she eventually received 12 minutes of playing time in the match versus Belgium.
The 27-year-old Rani didn’t appear to have any injuries or physical limitations, according to people who witnessed those 12 minutes.
Rani played in her 250th game, incidentally. Rani was given a special India shirt as a token of appreciation from Schopman, who left her off of the World Cup roster because she had “still to fully recover from injury rehabilitation.”
It is impossible to determine whether Schopman’s justification was rhetorical or not, but insiders told TimesofIndia that “Rani had no fitness issues” when the squads for the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, and even the current national camp for the upcoming Nations Cup — a brand-new competition that is a tier below the FIH’s top-flight Pro League — were chosen.
At the National Games, she scored an astounding 18 goals in six games, including two hat-tricks, five goals in the semifinal, and Haryana’s gold-medal-winning goal in the championship. All of this against teams loaded with current members of the international core group.
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