Commonwealth Games

'Cheating at its best' Twitter unhappy as they accuse the referees of cheating after India women's hockey loses to Australia in the semifinal

Controversy arose in the semifinal game between India and Australia women's hockey teams in the Commonwealth Games 2022.

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India Women's Hockey Team

India Women's Hockey Team (Image Credit: Twitter)

Controversy arose in the semifinal game between India and Australia women's hockey teams in the Commonwealth Games 2022. Both teams were levelled at 1-1 after 60 minutes. The winner was meant to be decided in a penalty shootout. The Aussie striker Ambrosia Malone took the first shot and tried to score for her team. However, Savita Punia foiled the intention of the Aussie.

In the meantime, an official taking care of the stopwatch didn't put their hand down to indicate the start of the stopwatch. For the unversed, the delegate raises his/her hand and then drops it when the stopwatch has started. Apparently, none of this happened which created all the chaos. While Malone was taking her chances, the delegate was saying loudly "no, no, no, wait, wait, wait".

Meanwhile, Punia saved the goal and her counterpart returned empty-handed. Now, it was the chance for the Women In Blue to score. However, the on-field referee stopped and asked Malone to strike once again as the stopwatch didn't start before.

Watch the video here

The Aussie made the most of it and went on to score. In the penalty shootout, India missed all three while the Kangaroos scored all three and advanced to the finals. After the game, Punia said didn't blame the error for the loss by saying "We're not using it as an excuse, but we are human."

Coach Jannekke Schopmann said on similar lines, "I'm not using it as an excuse, but you know, your goalkeeper makes a save, that's an enormous boost for the team and you turn the decision around... the team was really upset about it. I'm sure their focus was lost a little bit after that, and that's not an excuse, just a simple fact."

"It affected our momentum. went in, and everyone is deflated, we don't need to be but it's human emotion... It would be better to have the strength to shake it off and think it doesn't matter, but of course, it does matter."

"I am angry, also because the umpires don't understand it either." She then explains the crux of her annoyance. "The Australians were not complaining. They know they've missed it. There was easily ten seconds that they got the opportunity to score, so why do you have to ?"

Now, the Indian fans are angry about everything going down and have taken to Twitter to express their anger.

This is how Twitter reacted

Commonwealth Games 2022 India women's hockey team Australia Women's Hockey Team