Australia's Daniel Beale and India's Surender Kumar challenge for the ball Champions Trophy.
London - Aussies win penalty shoot-out after a goalless draw
Published: Sat 18 Jun 2016, 1:09 PM
Last updated: Sat 18 Jun 2016, 3:19 PM
After the 60 minutes of regulation play remained goalless in the final, Australian goalkeeper Tyler Lovell denied S.K. Uthappa, S.V. Sunil and Surender Kumar in the penalty shoot-out to drive Australia to their 14th Champions Trophy title -- most by any side.
Harmanpreet Singh was the only scorer for India, while for Australia, Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale, Simon Orchard succeeded. Indian goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh could only deny Trent Mitton.
However, it was India's best performance in the history of the tournament. India's previous best performance in the Champions Trophy was a bronze medal in 1982.
India protest exposes skeletons as jury looks for escape route
Off-the-field drama marred the controversial Champions Trophy Hockey 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.
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India, up against the mighty Australians, put up a strong defensive display and showed good counter-attacking skills.
Mandeep Singh created the first potent chance in the ninth minute as his speedy run on the right caught the Australians off-guard. His shot at goalkeeper Andrew Charter was deflected to Uthappa but the latter employed a lethargic back-hand strike to waste it as the Australians were less in numbers in front of the goal.
Australia broke through the Indian defence in the very next minute, earning a penalty corner. But India saw off four back-to-back penalty corners and in their moment of turnover, earned two penalty corners but they did not bear fruit.
Australia mounted the pressure on India but the latter managed to stay strong, thanks to the heroics of central defender V.R. Raghunath. During a penalty corner defence, the ball kissed the legs of Uthappa, India's final defender behind goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh, resulting in a penalty stroke in the 18th minute. But Blake Govers hit it wide, much to the relief in the Indian camp.
India too earned two penalty corners before the half-time but Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter denied V.R. Raghunath.
India upped the ante in the final few minutes of the third quarter with Mandeep Singh in the centre of the action. India launched a quick counter-attack after defending a penalty corner but Charter rushed out and halted Nikkin Thimmaiah.
Later, a by-line cross from Mandeep was deflected away by Jeremy Hayward, who then halted Chinglensana Singh's speedy run.
Changed goalkeeper Tyler Lovell then was tested by a reverse-hand strike from Akashdeep Singh, whose direct shot was padded out of danger.
Both the teams tried their best but they failed to break the deadlock, taking the game to the shoot-out, where the Australians won and claimed the title for the seventh time in the last 16 years.
In the bronze-medal match, Marco Miltkau's 40th-minute field goal gave Germany a 1-0 win over hosts Britain. It was the reigning Olympic champions' seventh bronze medal.
The game was fiercely contested, with both sides having far more chances than the score-line would suggest.
Britain will rue their failure to register despite having 20 circle entries and 12 shots on target, six of which came in the first quarter.
The winning goal arrived in the third quarter, with 25-year-old striker Miltkau scoring his fourth goal of the tournament to seal the bronze medal and condemn the home favourites to a fourth place finish.
In the fifth-sixth classification match, Belgium showed great fighting spirit to fight back from 1-3 down to snatch a 4-3 win over South Korea, ensuring that they would not finish the event as the lowest placed team in the final standings.
A second period penalty corner from Simon Gougnard (20th minute) gave Belgium the advantage before South Korean legend Seo Jongho restored parity four minutes later.
A third quarter double from Yang Jihun put Korea into a commanding 3-1 lead, although strikes from Gougnard (49th), Tanguy Cosyns (53rd) and Florent van Aubel (54th) turned the result in favour of the Belgians.
The India team walk round the pitch after lodging a protest concerning the penalty shoot the title match against Australia in the FIH Men's Champions Trophy at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
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