Clock howler, agitated Schopman & more

Birmingham, August 6

After their heartbreaking semifinal loss to Australia, the Indian women’s hockey team’s coach expressed her frustration and anger, saying the controversial clock incident in the shootout led to her side losing momentum at a crucial juncture.

India showed great determination to fight back from a goal down, only to be denied in the shootout. Australia took the lead in the 10th minute through Rebecca Greiner before Vandana Katariya equalised for India in the 49th minute. The Hockeyroos then won the shootout 3-0 to set up the gold medal clash against England.

The shootout started with Australia’s Rosie Malone fluffing her chance. However, she was given a second chance as a technical official had failed to start the clock on time. Each player is normally given eight seconds in the shootout, and Malone scored on her second attempt. This set the tone as the Indians failed in their first three attempts while Australia converted all their chances.

“I’m not using it as an excuse, but when you make the save, that’s an enormous boost for the team and you turn the decision around and the girls are really upset about it,” India coach Janneke Schopman said. “I tried to calm them down. In hindsight it’s 50-50 but I’m sure their focus was lost a little bit after that moment,” she added. “It’s 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 does matter”

The international hockey federation ((FIH) apologised for the controversy, saying it would “thoroughly review” the incident. “…the penalty shootout started mistakenly too early (the clock was not yet ready to operate), for which we apologise,” FIH said in a statement.