CWG Women's Hockey: FIH issues apology to India for this error

The incident took place in the lead up to Australia's first penalty in the shootout.

Big games often involve controversies and once again it was seen when the Indian women’s hockey team faced a heartbreaking defeat in Friday’s semi-final against Australia to end their quest for a gold medal at the Birmingham edition of the Commonwealth Games. 

The game ended with both teams level 1-1 in regulation time. The match was decided in a penalty-shootout, where Australia beat India 3-0. The Savita Punia-led side fought bravely, but missed out in converting their attempts in the shootout.

However,  before all this, the penalty-shootout was marred by controversy, as the first penalty which India saved was ordered to be retaken by the officials due to shot-clock error. Australia took the first attempt in the penalty-shootout which they missed courtesy a fine save by Indian captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia. However, the officials later told the Indian team that the attempt will be retaken, as the timer had not started. On the second attempt, the Aussies scored the goal. 

A player gets an eight second countdown to score a goal in the penalty-shootout. As the rule goes, a technical official standing next to the pitch has to signal for the stopwatch to start and at the same time, a referee has to indicate to the striker that he/she can advance with his attempt. However, in the semi-final, the technical official tried to alert the umpire and the player that the clock had not yet started, but the referee didn’t notice that, as she gave the signal to Ambrosia Malone to start her penalty shootout attempt.

 

FIH issues an apology

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has now issued an apology regarding the whole incident that took place in the very important penalty-shootout. It said that they are very sorry for the clock error and they will thoroughly review the incident. In their statement, they said – “In the semi-final match of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games between Australia and India (Women), the penalty-shootout started mistakenly too early (the clock was not yet ready to operate), for which we apologise.”

Our statement regarding penalty shootout issue : In the semi-final match of @birminghamcg22 Commonwealth Games between Australia and India (Women), the penalty shootout started mistakenly too early (the clock was not yet ready to operate), for which we apologise. (1/2)

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) August 6, 2022

The statement adds, “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 sadness in the Indian dressing room was visible after the controversy. “We're not using it as an excuse, but we are human. It definitely affected us psychologically,” said a disappointed Savita after the match.

Indian coach Janneke Schopman also expressed her displeasure regarding the matter. “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,” said Schopman after the match.