Defending his team for an "excellent performance", coach Vasudevan Baskaran opined that India should have beaten Korea on Monday instead of losing 2-1 in the 11th FIH men's hockey World Cup.
Stopping short of lambasting the umpiring, Baskaran thought that India were denied a penalty stroke late in the game when Shivendra Singh's goalbound try struck a defender on the body.
"It should have been a penalty stroke and not a penalty corner that the umpire (Xavier Adell of Spain) awarded," he said after the match.
"The media witnessed the match and so, it is up to you people to give your observations on the standard of umpiring," said Baskaran who was seen having a heated argument with the technical table immediately after the match.
"We needed three points from this match and I thought we played extremely well today but for missing the chances. We had Korea under pressure, but we were more intent on attacking and left our defence open," he said when asked about the nine penalty corners that India conceded.
With regard to the yellow card suspension (India's third in four matches) of midfielder Prabhodh Tirkey eight minutes from close, Baskaran said: "I don't know why the yellow card was given, but in any case, playing with 10 men is a disadvantage. It came at a crucial stage and it did affect our performance."
{{/usCountry}}With regard to the yellow card suspension (India's third in four matches) of midfielder Prabhodh Tirkey eight minutes from close, Baskaran said: "I don't know why the yellow card was given, but in any case, playing with 10 men is a disadvantage. It came at a crucial stage and it did affect our performance."
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