India fight hard but fall short against Australia
CHAMPIONS TROPHY Goalkeeper Lovell saves three in shootout, denies India once again
BREDA: The Indian hockey team finished runners-up to Australia for the second time in a row after going down 1-3 in a tense penalty shootout in the Champions Trophy final on Sunday. The two teams were tied 1-1 in regulation time.
Interestingly, in the previous edition too India had lost to Australia in the final via shootout and by the same margin.
Only Manpreet Singh managed to score for India on Sunday in the shootout as Sardar Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay’s attempts were saved by a valiant Australian goalkeeper Tyler Lovell.
The World No.1 side scored through Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale and Jeremy Edwards, who kept his calm to convert the fifth and last chance as Australia lifted their 15th Champions Trophy title.
India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh denied Matthew Swann and Tom Craig in the shootout but that was not enough. Sreejesh, who was outstanding throughout the championship, was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
The Indian team, under new coach Harendra Singh, played well to reach the final but would rue the missed opportunity. It was the 37th and last edition of the Champions Trophy which will now be replaced by Hockey Pro League.
The final was a keenly-contested battle. Australia took the lead in the 24th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Blake Govers, but India drew parity in the 42nd minute through a field strike by young Vivek Sagar Prasad.
India fought brilliantly but wasted several penalty corners. Australian defenders did well to stave off drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh.
A 1-1 scoreline was what the teams could manage in regulation time before Australia came out on top in the battle of nerves.
Hosts Netherlands clinched the bronze medal defeating Olympic champions Argentina 2-0 in the play-off.
Belgium beat Pakistan 2-2 (2-1) in the fifth-sixth position play-off.
FOOTBALL TEAM OMITTED, AIFF FURIOUS
NEWDELHI:THE All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Sunday alleged that Narinder Batra-led Indian Olympic Association (IOA) “lacks vision and competence” after the national team was not cleared for participation in the Asian Games.
“It’s clear the IOA lacks the vision and competence to understand that football is a global sport played by 212 countries and that the top 5 teams in Asia play in the FIFA World Cup where the level of competition is far superior to the Asian Games,” the AIFF said in a statement.