The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has apologised for the penalty shoot-out stopwatch controversy during the Indian women team's semi-final match against Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Friday.
Australia edged past India via a shoot-out to set up a final against England. However, the Indian fans are furious after Australia's Rosie Malone, whose first attempt was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Savita Punia, was given another chance as the stopwatch hadn't started.
In a statement after the match, the FIH said that the penalty shootout "started mistakenly too early" as the clock was not yet ready to operate.
"The process in place for such situations is that the penalty shootout has to be retaken, which was done. This incident will be thoroughly reviewed by the FIH in order to avoid any similar issues in the future," the governing body for hockey said while apologising for the incident.
Penalty miss hua Australia se and the Umpire says, Sorry Clock start nahi hua. Such biasedness used to happen in cricket as well earlier till we became a superpower, Hockey mein bhi hum jald banenge and all clocks will start on time. Proud of our girls 🇮🇳pic.twitter.com/mqxJfX0RDq
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 6, 2022
That, however, did little to pacify the fans of Indian hockey who accused the match officials of "extremely biased umpiring" which resulted in the semifinal loss.
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag too expressed his anger on social media, saying the men in blue too suffered such "biasedness" before they became a "superpower" in world cricket.
"Penalty miss hua Australia se and the Umpire says, Sorry Clock start nahi hua. Such biasedness used to happen in cricket as well earlier till we became a superpower, Hockey mein bhi hum jald banenge and all clocks will start on time. Proud of our girls," wrote the former batter.
Cheating at its best. Umpire says "CLOCK HAS NOT STARTED" and the brilliant save by the goal keeper was wasted. @FIH_Hockey if you can't organise the tournament with fair play, just give trophy to your favourite England or Australia. #cheating #CWG2022 #FIH #Australia #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/sdxpgA5vtk
— Devraj TS (@Devraj_TS) August 6, 2022
"One day, Indian Hockey Federation will be like BCCI and all the clocks will be on time," tweeted another Indian hockey fan.
Also Read: Wrestlers strike gold, more medals likely for India at CWG 2022 today
