Hockey India hits back at differential treatment allegations from Janneke Schopman, Elena Norman

On Wednesday (Feb 28),Hockey India released a joint statement in response to former senior women's team coach Janneke Schopman andoutgoing CEO Elena Norman's allegationsabout differential treatment and division in the governing body.Schopman, who resigned from her post after women's team's failure to qualify for Paris Olympics, and Norman recently made heads turn with their serious claims.

Now, theHockey India president Dilip Tirkey and Secretary General, Bhola Nath Singh, haverubbished all allegations. "Recently there have been statements by outgoing officials published in the media, claiming that there are divisions within the organisation. This is not correct. We remain united in working together, and as always in the best interest of the sport."

"The Federation has treated the teams and all players equally with equal benefits and training facilities, including cash awards and monetary recognition that is at-par and is purely based on performance. We have built our ethos around equity and equal opportunities right from the grassroots levels across states as well as on a national level."

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"We now seek the ongoing support of ardent hockey fans to continue to back what is important - the teams and the players like they have always done in this important year. And we look forward to keep our entire focus on the task at hand," read the statement.

On the sidelines of the FIH Pro League early this month, the former Netherlands player Schopman stated, "Because I come from a culture where women are respected and valued. I don’t feel that here. From not very many people – and I do feel people working here on the ground are amazing from Hockey India. But I feel it’s so hard."

She further opined, "I look at the difference in how men’s coaches are treated between me and the men’s coach, or the girls and the men’s team, just in general. They never complain and they work so hard. I am not saying, I don’t know, I don’t know why and I shouldn’t speak for them so I won't."

"I love them. I think they work so hard, they do what I ask, they wanna learn, wanna do new things but for me personally coming from the Netherlands, having worked in the USA, this country is extremely difficult as a woman, coming from a culture where, yeah, you can have an opinion and it’s valued. It’s really hard," the Dutch woman added.

Meanwhile, the 49-year-old Normantold PTI that there were two factions in Hockey India. In addition,she claimed that the environment had become suffocating.

Norman explained, "Absolutely, it was getting tough to deliver in the fight between two factions. The environment was becoming suffocating. There are two factions in Hockey India. There is (President) Dilip Tirkey and I and there is (Secretary) Bholanath Singh, (Executive Director) Cdr. R K Srivastava and (Treasurer) Sekar J Manoharan."

"There are guys who want power and then there is (HI President) Dilip (Tirkey) who is a nice guy, only after betterment of Indian hockey," she further highlighted.