The coach of the Indian women's hockey team, Janneke Schopman, has said in recent hours that India is "extremely challenging for women'. Former Olympic gold medallist Janneke Schopman of the Netherlands has criticised gender inequality in the country, both in sports and society in general. The former member of the world's top field hockey team said: "I come from a culture where women are respected and valued. I don't feel that here," Schopman, 46, was quoted as saying in the Indian Express newspaper last Monday.

Indeed, Schopman is the first woman to coach an Indian national hockey team and she broke down when describing the preferential treatment given to the men's team.

The former Netherlands international was speaking after India defeated the United States on penalties in a FIH Pro League match in Odisha last Sunday. From low pay to lack of training facilities and media coverage, female athletes in India have long faced inequality, especially in male-dominated sports such as hockey and cricket.

Schopman said she had felt "very alone for the last two years" and was not "valued and respected" by her employers at Hockey India."I see the difference in the way male coaches are treated... or girls and the men's team in general," lamented the former Dutch club HC Den Bosch defender.

"But for me personally, coming from the Netherlands and having worked in the United States, this country is extremely challenging as a woman, coming from a culture where you can have an opinion and it is valued. It's really hard.

Janneke Schopman took over as head coach of the women's team after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, having started as an analysis coach. "Even when I was an assistant coach, some people didn't even look at me or didn't recognise me... and then you become the head coach and suddenly people are interested in you. I struggled with that a lot," she said.

On the most difficult part of her time in Asia, she said: "The fact that I feel - I don't even know if it's true - that I'm not taken seriously. Those difficulties may have contributed to the results not meeting the expectations of the Indian federation, which has a competitive men's team but failed to qualify the women for the 2024 Paris Olympics.