Birmingham

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has issued an apology over the gaffe committed during the shoot-out in the women's hockey semifinal match between India and Australia at the Commonwealth games on Thursday.

The first shot taken by Australia was blocked by Indian goalkeeper Savita Punia but had to be re-taken as the timer malfunctioned.

Australia took the shot again and this time they scored and went on to win the shoot-out 3-0, ending an impressive comeback by the Indian team that had trailed 0-1 for a major part of the match before equalising in the fourth quarter.

"In the semifinal 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," the FIH said in a statement on Saturday.

The FIH however defended the decision to re-take the penalty but promised to thoroughly review the incident to avoid similar issues in the future.

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Janneke Schopman, chief coach of the Indian women's hockey team, and goalkeeper and skipper Savita Punia have expressed their displeasure over the umpire's decision.  The coach was scathing in her comments and said "people who don't understand sport who make those decisions".