Hockey World Cup | Harendra Singh questions double-standard umpiring in India-Netherlands game
Harendra Singh has slammed the umpiring standards in the quarter-final match between India and Netherlands and questioned why Amit Rohidas was given the yellow card, but the Dutch striker wasn’t. However, Dutch coach Max Caldas completely differed with the opinion and said that the best team won.
At the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar which was filled to the capacity, India went down to Netherlands 1-2 to end their World Cup hopes. Although India played really well in the first couple of quarters, their lackadaisical approach to slow down the game in the middle resulted in the loss. Amit Rohidas’ yellow card played a part as India were down to 10 men with seven minutes to go and that decision made Harendra Singh unhappy.
"I would like to tender my apologies, we haven't been able to give (the result) that we had to. I am not going to stop today. If they (umpires) don't want to improve, this type of result we will (continue to) face," the Indian coach said after the end of the match.
"Can anyone define Amit Rohidas' 10-min yellow card? What about this gentleman (pointed at Manpreet), when he was pushed from behind? Why not yellow card there? We have lost two major tournaments (Asian Games and World Cup) this year (because of umpiring).”
On being asked if India will contemplate filing a protest against the bad umpiring, Manpreet Singh stated that they had already lost and there was no point lodging a complaint.
"What is the use? We have lost. We are out of the tournament," the Indian captain said in anger.
Then Harendra started, "In my entire career, the outcome of a protest has never been good (positive). We will accept this gracefully. We want neutral umpiring. I expect both the teams to be treated equally. One wrong decision ruins your preparation of 4-6 years."
While Harendra was on a rant of his own in front of the media, Dutch coach Max Caldas and skipper Billy Baker shared sarcastic smiles among themselves and then the coach laughed that off.
"The team with most chances wins the game. We won the game. That's the bottom line. The umpires didn't play the game," the Dutch coach said when his turn came.
"It happened at the Champions Trophy when the call went against us and we had a draw against India (who reached the final). Umpires do their job. It's a very fast-paced game."
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