Penalty shootout started mistakenly too early: FIH apologises after clock howler during Indian women’s semifinal loss, will review incident

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The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday apologised for the clock controversy that took place during the Indian women’s team’s semifinal loss against Australia at the Commonwealth Games, saying it would “thoroughly review” the incident. Australia’s Rosie Malone, who missed her first attempt during the penalty shootout, was gifted another chance as the eight-second countdown on the scoreboard hadn’t started. The forward did not miss the second time, putting her side in the lead. The Indians eventually lost the semifinal 0-3 in the shootout after both teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time as the crowd booed the technical officials for the decision.

Only extremely biased umpiring could bring her down today, Australia mein kaha damm tha?

(21 Attempts 0 Goals)
Massive Respect SAVITA PUNIA#Hockey #HockeyIndia #Cheating #CWG2022 #CWG22 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/lOJfhQYcxh

— sport_verity (@SportVerity) August 5, 2022

“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,” FIH said in a statement.

“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 statement added.