Hailing the Indian team's runner-up display in the 9th Asia Cup, former hockey international Merwyn Fernandes slammed the umpiring error in the final moments of the summit clash in Ipoh, Malaysia against Korea which cost them the title.
"It was a very impressive performance, especially considering that the coach (Roelant Oltmans) took over the reins just two months ago. The youngsters, like Mandeep Singh, Ramandeep and Nikkin Thimmiah, who replaced seniors like S V Sunil, did pretty well. But bad umpiring cost them the final," the three-time Olympian, Fernandes told PTI.
India, captained by Sardar Singh, lost to Korea 3-4 yesterday after making a fine comeback in the second half after trailing 0-2 at half time.
Fernandes was referring to the umpire's decision to award a penalty corner to Korea following a tackle on a rival attacker by India's Rupinderpal Singh that led to the title-deciding goal.
According to the former inside right, who watched the match on television, the tackle by Rupinder was clean and should not have been penalised.
"It was a clean tackle that should not have been penalised. That wrong decision by the umpire cost us the game," said the member of the gold medal winning team at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, thus endorsing the views of two Indian players on the incident in Malaysia.
The resultant penalty corner hurt India badly as Kang Moon Kweon made no mistake with the chance and converted it two minutes from the end for the championship-winning goal.
