Saturday 27 / April / 2024
London: The Indian hockey team settled for a silver medal in its best ever Champions Trophy performance after the spirited side went down 1-3 to world champions Australia in a controversy-marred summit clash penalty shootout here.
Only Harmanpreet Singh was able to score in the shootout, while SK Uthappa, SV Sunil and Surender Kumar all hit wide off the target.
Just four attempts were required from the two teams as Australia had gained a winning 3-1 lead.
Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale and Simon Orchard scored for Australia, while Trent Mitton's try was blocked by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
India thus improved on its bronze medal show in the 1982 edition.
There was plenty of drama in the shootout as Beale's shot was re-taken after he failed to score and sought a video review.
The video umpire asked the shot to be taken again, leaving Indian coach Roelant Oltmans fuming on the sidelines.
At the end of the match, India protested against the second successful attempt awarded to Beale, delaying the final announcement on the result of the match.
The officials assembled to decide on India's appeal as trophies were removed from the ground and fans also left the stadium.
After discussing the appeal for more than an hour, the jury declared that there was unintentional obstruction on part of Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh in the seventh second thus the re-take of the shot was justified.
The presentation ceremony was later held indoors.
Fancied Australia, looking for their 14th Champions Trophy title, faced a stiff fight from the Indians, who were playing their first final, but raised the level to come within striking distance of the title.
Australia wasted a penalty stroke in the second quarter and India failed to capitalise on their superiority in numbers when Australia were down to nine men for a short while in the third quarter.
India made the first foray into the circle in the ninth minute when Mandeep Singh broke in from the right flank and his shot rebounded off Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter.
The ball went to Uthappa, who had the opportunity to have a measured crack at the goal, but sent a rushed reverse hit wide to the right.
In the next minute, Australia laid siege on the Indian citadel through four successive penalty corners, but goalkeeper Sreejesh brought off two fine saves.
In the end, it was defender Surender Kumar who rushed out to block the penalty corner flick and the ball went out of the circle.
Talwinder Singh exchanged passed with Nikkin Thimmaiah and went into the circle from left, but he got into a very narrow angle and posed no danger as he shot straight into the goalkeeper's pads.
Off-field drama
Off-field drama marred the controversial title showdown as the tournament jury spent one hour and a half to find a way out to India's protest against a shootout infringement against Australia here.
The tournament jury seemed to be in a fix when India filed an appeal against the video umpire's decision to re-take the second attempt in the shootout.
India had lost the shootout 1-3 after holding world champions Australia goalless in 60 minutes of regulation period last night.
It took the jury multiple replays to find a way out of the embarrassing situation that kept the result pending.
India had complained that Daniel Beale's shootout attempt was allowed to go on for more than 14 seconds and the obstruction that was cited took place outside the eight-second limit for such attempts.
The score then was 1-0.
After an hour and a half of the match's conclusion, the jury eventually discovered that the ball had rolled under Indian goalkeeper's pad for a couple of seconds.
The jury now cited this as the cause why the shootout was re-taken.
But it still took the jury a lot of explanation to the Indian captain and coach before announcing that the result would stay.
Australia thus won the title, but both teams had to be ushered out of the ground, to send a signal for the crowd to go home.
The medal presentation was then staged in the media interview room, away from the spotlight in the middle of the pitch.
"The umpires have failed," said Narender Batra, President of Hockey India, who vehemently protested from the VIP galleries.
"Is this the quality of umpires you post in the final of the Champions Trophy?" asked Batra.
"The shootout attempt went on for over 14 seconds, and then it was re-taken. Just to cover up their shortcomings, they are now pointing out at a different incident," he said.
"If the goalkeeper had made an infringement, that a penalty stroke should have been awarded," Batra emphasised.
Indian coach Roelant Oltmans said it was "an unusual end to the tournament".
"To be honest, the set process should be followed. Our protest was not about the result, but important tournaments should follow the process," said Oltmans.
"If something like this happens at the Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, just imagine the embarrassment for the game," he said.
