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Tussle between players and umpires takes centre stage at Ambedkar hockey tournament
Disallowed goal, 4 green cards and 2 yellow cards as FCI triumphs Excellency Academy for spot in semi final
Food Corporation of India (FCI) defeated Excellency Hockey Academy 5-3 to enter the semi-final of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hockey tournament, but the highlight of the quarter-final was the argument between players and umpires during the match.
One green card and two yellow cards were awarded to Excellency Hockey Academy while three green cards were awarded to FCI.
The match also saw the suspension of two minutes for FCI goalkeeper and captain Aniket Dalvi.
“After second quarter, FCI had 12 players on the ground. It is captain’s duty to check weather team is playing with 11 players or not that’s why he was suspended for two minutes,” said Vivek Kale, the umpire for the tournament.
The match was also halted for four minutes in the fourth quarter as umpires disallowed the goal of FCI. The game resumed after teams agreed to play.
“Our one goal was disallowed, I think it was a clear goal. Umpires need to be more attentive. The best part is we won the game,” said Aniket Dalvi, captain, FCI.
It was a very good start for Food Corporation of India (FCI) as they scored the two goals in the first fifteen minutes. Goals came from Gurfan Shaikh (3rd), Venkatesh Deokar (10th) respectively.
From the second half, Excellency Hockey Academy started controlling the ball possession and they were rewarded with Vinit Kamble scoring in the 23rd minute.
“Our team got a bit relaxed after the first quarter and that’s why we conceded goals. Umpires are doing a good job but today few of their decisions were not up to the mark,” said Vikram Yadav, coach of FCI.
Kamble added one more goal in the 32nd minute but missing penalty corners caused the damage to Excellency Hockey Academy as they kept trailing in the match.
In the fourth quarter, FCI who was leading 3-2, netted two more goals with Anuj Singh scoring goal in the 50th minute while Deokar netted his second goal in the 53rd minute.
“Umpires’ needs to do a much better job. One of our player’s was given a yellow card at the start of the game which made things became hard for us,” said Vinod Nayar, captain of Excellency Hockey Academy.
Edwin John coach of Excellency Hockey Academy added, “We have very good umpire but today I felt there was miscommunication among both the umpires that’s why few issues happened during the match.”
Results (quarterfinal)
Food Corporation of India 5 (Gurfan Shaikh 3rd; Venkatesh Deokar 10th, 53rd; Akash Pawar 17th; Anuj Singh 50th) bt Excellency Academy 3 (Vinit Kamble 23rd, 32nd; Vinod Nair 58th). HT: 3-1
Vikram Pillay Academy ‘A’ 6 (Yuvraj Walmiki 13th, 20th, 47th; Philip Ba 34th; Devendra Walmiki 35th; Reuben Kedari 37th) bt Green Meadows: 0. HT: 2-0
