{"id":275851,"date":"2025-04-07T05:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T05:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/hockey-india-league-from-losing-vision-to-winning-olympic-gold-jip-janssens-inspirational-story\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T05:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T05:24:17","slug":"hockey-india-league-from-losing-vision-to-winning-olympic-gold-jip-janssens-inspirational-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/hockey-india-league-from-losing-vision-to-winning-olympic-gold-jip-janssens-inspirational-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey India League: From losing vision to winning Olympic gold \u2013 Jip Janssen\u2019s inspirational story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Late in the match against UP Rudras, Tamil Dragons\u2019 star defender and drag-flicker Jip Janssen was hit on his left rib by the ball. There was immediate concern from everyone on the field, and the Dutchman missed the end of that match.<\/p>\n

In the post-match interview, his teammate Tom Craig revealed that Janssen had been taken to hospital. The team was worried about what could have been a serious blow to their main man. But when the Dragons stepped out for their next match three days later, the gold medallist from the Paris Olympics was good to go. What\u2019s more, he scored a hat-trick from penalty corners in a 6-5 win against Gonasika.<\/p>\n

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Janssen is no stranger to recovering from big setbacks. A few months before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he had suffered a blow to his eye during a Dutch league match, playing for SV Kampong.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I got hit by a ball in the eye, I lost my vision for a couple of weeks,\u201d Janssen told The Indian Express<\/a>. \u201cI needed to sleep upright because there was a lot of blood in my eye, and it needed to settle lower. It was very scary and hard to live through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janssen, who had to play with a face mask for a while afterward, is now one of the world\u2019s foremost goal-scorers. He was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 World Cup in Odisha and is now also an Olympic gold medallist.<\/p>\n

\"Jip\" Janssen wasn\u2019t even keen to play hockey, to begin with. His first love was football, and he played both as a forward and in goal \u2013 given his build from his early days. But his father Toon Janssen, who played hockey himself, wanted his son to make the switch. (HIL)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors couldn\u2019t guarantee my vision would return. There was a lot of uncertainty about whether or not 1) I could see again and 2) play hockey ever again. It was a tough time. But it strengthened me,\u201d Janssen said about the toughest phase of his life. \u201cOne of the most important things I learned is to take nothing for granted and take one step at a time. If the goal seems far away, just take the first step. That\u2019s what I did. Live day by day and don\u2019t worry too much about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Hockey India League in Rourkela, Janssen has been the rock in defence, along with Amit Rohidas, and the primary goal-scorer from penalty corners for the table-topping Tamil Nadu<\/a> Dragons. He took a while to get going, but six rounds into the tournament, he was the joint-top scorer, with five goals to his name.<\/p>\n

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Accidental champion<\/h2>\n

Janssen wasn\u2019t even keen to play hockey, to begin with. His first love was football, and he played both as a forward and in goal \u2013 given his build from his early days. But his father Toon Janssen, who played hockey himself, wanted his son to make the switch.<\/p>\n

Tears were shed for a full week. \u201cI really enjoyed football. I played for two years, and then my dad decided he preferred the environment of hockey. He told me, \u2018Jip, you are not going to play soccer next year!\u2019 I was like\u2026 \u2018ugh! What, why?\u2019 I was mad at him for a week, but in hindsight, it was a great decision. If he hadn\u2019t done that, I wouldn\u2019t have become a champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Janssen also had to grapple with growing too tall too soon. \u201cI grew faster than I would have wanted,\u201d he joked. \u201cHe was big for his age,\u201d Toon told FIH. \u201cHe had a lot of trouble managing it, so he stumbled\u2026 he knocked things off the table. It must have deeply frustrated him, and it did frustrate me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jip\" Janssen, who was picked up for Rs 54 lakh by the Dragons, is no stranger to the HIL. (HIL)<\/span><\/p>\n

Funnily, that happened the first time Janssen tried drag- flicking. \u201cI was first an injector for my club. Then our first drag-flicker in the Under-12s went to another club, and we needed a new one. The coach asked me to try it. And I promptly tripped over my own feet the first day. I stumbled and fell on the ground. It was a long process of trying until I could score goals. It required a lot of effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But he is now a big part of the Dutch success story.<\/p>\n

Janssen, who was picked up for Rs 54 lakh by the Dragons, is no stranger to the HIL. He remembered watching his Kampong teammates back in the previous iteration. He reeled off the names. Robbert Kemperman, David Harte, Sander de Wijn. \u201cThey played for Dabang Mumbai<\/a>, and I think they reached the final, where they lost. But following HIL then was something I still cherish. That\u2019s also why I applied for the auction; I found it so cool. It was a big compliment that so many teams wanted me.\u201d<\/p>\n