Indians cry foul after SA’s crushing victory

JOHANNESBURG, AUG 18: India suffered a humiliating 1-4 defeat at the hands of South Africa in the third hockey Test here last night amid ...

JOHANNESBURG, AUG 18: India suffered a humiliating 1-4 defeat at the hands of South Africa in the third hockey Test here last night amid controversial umpiring to go down 0-2 in the five-match series. The Indians, held goalless in the first match and beaten 2-1 in the second on Sunday, played well but were once again left bitterly criticising officiating by local umpires.

“South Africa are trying to boost the morale of their team prior to the All-African Games. But this is no way to do it,” Indian Hockey Federation treasurer, JN Tyagi told PTI after the stunning reverse.

India had lodged an official protest and said the importance of having neutral umpires for such matches have again been highlighted.

“We are concerned about the umpiring. Three of their goals were gifted by the umpire. The umpiring is so bad that the umpire took five minutes to award the goal we scored,” an Indian team management official said. “We are continuing with the tour but something must be done for the umpires to be fair.But it seems they are hell bent on cheating us,” he said.

The Indians were also weighed down by the absence of forwards Brojen Singh and Deepak Thakur who were down with fever and had to be taken to the hospital. In their absence, the forwards failed to combine well andthe attack looked toothless for most part of the match. The fourth Test is slated for tomorrow.

SA took an early lead through Greg Nicol in the 5th minute. Nicol was to find the net again shortly after resumption to give the home side a 2-0 advantage. Though V Prabakaran got one back for India, Justin King restore the lead with a well-executed flick from a penalty corner in the 44th minute. With ten minutes remaining, Craig Fulton, recalled to the team in the place of the injured Steve Evans, scored South Africa’s final goal of the match from a solo effort.