Champions Trophy: India settle for silver, lose 1-3 in controversial shootout to Australia

June 18, 2016

London, Jun 18: India muffed three tries in the title-deciding shootout to settle for a silver medal in the 36th Hero Champions Trophy as they lost the final 1-3 against world champions Australia, here on Friday.

Champions

Only Harmanpreet Singh was able to score in the shootout, while SK Uthappa, SV Sunil and Surender Kumar all shot wide off the target. Just four attempts were required from the two teams as Australia had gained a winning 3-1 lead.

Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale and Simon Orchard scored for Australia, while Trent Mitton's try was blocked by goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh.

There was plenty of drama in the shootout as Beale's shot was re-taken after he failed to score and sought a video review. The video umpire asked the shot to be taken again, leaving Indian coach Roelant Oltmans fuming on the sidelines.

At the end of the match India protested against the second successful attempt awarded to Beale, delaying the final announcement on the result of the match.

The officials assembled to decide on India's appeal as trophies were removed from the ground and the fans also left the stadium.

After discussing the appeal for more than an hour, the jury declared that there was unintentional obstruction on part of Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh in the seventh second thus the re-take of the shot was justified.

The presentation ceremony was later held indoors.

Fancied Australia, looking for their 14th Champions Trophy title, faced a stiff fight from the Indians, who were playing their first final, but raised the level to come within striking distance of the title.

Australia wasted a penalty stroke in the second quarter and India failed to capitalise on their superiority in numbers when Australia were down to nine men for a short while in the third quarter.

India's lone previous medal in the Champions Trophy came 34 years ago, when they got a bronze at Amsterdam in 1982. India made the first foray into the circle in the ninth minute when Mandeep Singh broke in from the right flank and his shot rebounded off Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter.

The ball went to Uthappa, who had the opportunity to have a measured crack at the goal, but sent a rushed reverse-hit wide to the right.

In the next minute, Australia laid seize on the Indian citadel through four successive penalty corners, but goalkeeper Sreejesh brought off two fine saves. In the end, it was defender Surender Kumar who rushed out to block the penalty corner flick and the ball went out of the circle.

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Talwinder Singh exchanged passes with Nikkin Thimmaiah and went into the circle from left, but he got into a very narrow angle and posed no danger as he shot straight into the goalkeeper's pads.

India forced two consecutive penalty corners in the 13th minute, but goalkeeper Charter averted danger by palming away V.R. Raghunath's rising flick.

Australia got a penalty stroke three minutes into the second quarter when Glenn Turner's shot during a penalty corner hit defender Pradeep Mor's foot. The umpire immediately signalled for a penalty stroke, although the ball slowly trickled over the goalline.

Blake Govers failed to convert the penalty stroke as he flicked wide to the left and India survived the anxious moment.

Indian defender Raghunath was quick to cover some ground when unmarked Govers got a ball on top of the Indian circle in the 24th minute. Raghunath deflected out the reverse hit.

Goalkeeper Sreejesh then made another good save on a penalty corner shot before India mounted a raid after a long time on a quick counter, but only for Akashdeep Singh to send a wayward pass from top of the rival circle.

Both teams were down to 10 men for a while in the second quarter when Indian defender Pradeep and Australia's Beale were sent off following a stiff tackle.

Harmanpreet could not make the third Indian penalty corner count in the 29th minute and the title encounter remained goalless at half-time.

Raghunath's quick diagonal forward pass following an Australian penalty corner in the 37th minute saw India surge forward. The Indian strikers switched the ball around to find a leeway past the opposition defenders, who held their ground grimly.

India had a brief period of territorial dominance in the third quarter, mounting three raids into the circle and also forcing two penalty corners in as many minutes. The penalty corners did not pose a threat as the ball was not stopped on the first occasion and the feeble shot was easily cleared on the next one.

India failed to capitalise when they had an advantage in numbers as Australia were down to nine men in the third quarter with Matthew Swann and Trent Mitton shown green cards in quick succession.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Akashdeep Singh took a reverse shot from top of the circle that got palmed away by the custodian. Australian defender Matt Dawson was sent off with a yellow card in the 50th minute for a deliberate foul on Indian winger Sunil and they had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 players.

Again, India failed to capitalise from an extra player on the pitch, and the advantage was negated with three minutes remaining as Indian player Thimmaiah also had a yellow card flashed at him.

Comments

ABDUL BASHEER …
 - 
Saturday, 18 Jun 2016

CONGRATULATION...to INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM.......the best performance......

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Skipper Virat Kohli struck an unbeaten 30 as India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Indore on Tuesday.

The hosts rode a 71-run opening stand between KL Rahul, who hit 45, and Shikhar Dhawan, who made 32, to chase down their target of 143 in 17.3 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first match was rained off.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga took the wickets of the Indian openers but Shreyas Iyer, who scored 34 before falling to paceman Lahiru Kumara, and Kohli, who hit the winning six, got the team home.

The third match is on Friday in Pune.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Berlin, May 17: Top-flight football in Germany kicked off again on the weekend, becoming the first major sports league in the world to resume play, as parts of Europe took more tentative steps towards normality after the devastation unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the worldwide death toll past 310,000 and the global economy reeling from the vast damage caused by lockdowns, the reopenings in some of the hardest-hit countries provided much-needed relief from the pandemic.

The French returned to the beach and Italy announced a resumption of European tourism with outbreaks in Europe slowing, but the rising number of fatalities in the United States and Brazil were a grim reminder of the scale of the crisis, with more than 4.6 million infections reported globally.

With governments trying to reopen their economies while avoiding the second wave of infections that could necessitate more lockdowns, Germany's Bundesliga resumed its season on Saturday with games played in vacant, echoing stadiums.

League heavyweights Borussia Dortmund hosted rivals Schalke at the all-but-empty Signal Iduna Park -- which would usually be packed with more than 80,000 raucous fans.

"It's sad that matches are played in empty stadiums, but it's better than nothing," said 45-year-old Borussia Dortmund fan Marco Perz, beer in hand, as he prepared to watch the game on TV.

Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland became the first player to score a goal after the two-month shutdown and celebrated by dancing alone -- away from his applauding teammates -- in keeping with the strict hygiene guidelines which allowed the league to resume.

The only noise was the cheering and clapping of players and coaches.

League champions Bayern Munich will play Union Berlin in the capital on Sunday, with the resumption in Germany seen as a test case as other top sports competitions try to find ways to resume play without increasing health risks.

"The whole world will be looking at Germany, to see how we get it done," said Bayern boss Hansi Flick.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, however, said Saturday he needed more guarantees before the government can give the green light for the resumption of its top football league, which is struggling with logistical difficulties as clubs try to arrange training sessions and quarantine facilities.

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer approaching, authorities are moving to help tourism industries salvage something from the wreckage.

Italy, for a long stretch the world's worst-hit country, announced that European Union tourists would be allowed to visit from June 3 and a 14-day mandatory quarantine would be scrapped.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address.

"We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

In France, the first weekend after the strictest measures were lifted saw many ventures out into the spring sunshine -- and hit the beach.

In the Riviera city of Nice, keen swimmers jumped into the surf at daybreak.

"We were impatient because we swim here all year round," said retiree Gilles, who declined to give his full name.

With the threat of a second wave of infections on their minds, authorities in many countries have asked people not to throng public spaces like beaches as they are made accessible again.

Officials in parts of England on Saturday warned people to stay away from newly reopened beauty spots and avoid overcrowding.

Germany also saw the latest in a growing wave of anti-lockdown protests in many parts of the world, with rallies in major cities bringing together conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine activists and other extremists.

There were similar protests in France, Switzerland and Poland.

Since emerging in China late last year, the coronavirus has whipped up a catastrophic economic storm, which has left tens of millions unemployed in the United States and many are wondering when a recovery will be possible.

With more than 88,000 deaths and 1.47 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the United States is the worst-hit country on the planet, and the administration of President Donald Trump has faced intense criticism of the way it has handled the crisis.

Former president Barack Obama took a swipe at the response to the pandemic, telling graduates at a virtual commencement ceremony that many leaders today "aren't even pretending to be in charge" -- a remark widely regarded as a rare rebuke of his successor.

Trump is keen to reopen the US economy -- the world's largest -- despite warnings from experts that infections could flare up again if social distancing measures are eased too quickly.

Forty-eight of the 50 US states have now eased lockdown rules to some extent.

Much like Trump and his political allies, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is also keen to end lockdowns, which he claims have unnecessarily damaged the South American nation's economy over a disease he has dismissed as "a little flu".

But the virus has continued its deadly march in Brazil, where the death toll passed 15,000 on Saturday and it became the country with the fourth-largest coronavirus caseload with 230,000 infections.

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