Birmingham | In a major setback, the Indian women’s hockey team pulled out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. India were going for strength and they left no stone unturned to give a tough fight to Australia who were undoubtedly the favourites. Team India made sure that they did not leave any slack in the match and displayed a dominant side of their game.
The Indian hockey team was eyeing the CWG gold medal and an Australian challenge awaited them before reaching the final. Both the teams fought bravely and kept challenging each other throughout the game. The game progressed to the traditional penalty shootout after it ended in a 1-1 draw, but what followed raised eyebrows and drew different reactions from different corners of the world.
Australia took the first shot, but Rosie Malone missed it, before the Indian team was buoyed by a cloud of despair. In one of the incidents of its kind, Malone was given a second chance as a technical officer after England’s B Morgan, failed to start the clock in time. As in the rules of the game, each player gets an eight-second slot to hit the ball in the net in the shootout.
To Malone’s good fortune, he scored in the second attempt and opened Australia’s account in the shootout. This caused a stir in the Indian team and they failed to find any kind of momentum. The match ended with Australia winning by a margin of 3–0.
,After that, we lost our momentum a bit. Then it went in, and everyone was defiled. I’m not going to use it as an excuse, but when you save, it’s a huge incentive for the team and you reverse the decision and the girls get really upset by it. I tried to pacify them. In the end, it’s 50-50 but I’m sure his focus was a little off after that moment. It is all human and all emotion. Should we be better? That’s what I was trying to say, ‘Girls it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. But of course, it matters and of course, I’m angry too because I don’t think the authorities even understood what happened.”, said an angry shopman, who is working tirelessly to take Indian women’s hockey to new heights.
India will now play New Zealand in the bronze medal playoff on Sunday.
(Inputs from PTI)