Hockey India to suspend playing ties with Pakistan: Narinder Batra

NEW DELHI: Hockey India president Narinder Batra on Sunday reacted strongly to Pakistan's misbehaviour following their win over India in the Champions Trophy semifinal on Saturday, saying that India will boycott all matches with Pakistan until appropriate action is taken, according to Times Now.

Schedule and Results | Match in Pics | Official communication from Champions Trophy Tournament Director

The Pakistani players had celebrated their victory by taking off their shirts and making obscene gestures towards the spectators and the media, although their coach Shahnaz Shiekh was seen rebuking them.

READ ALSO: Pakistani players shame game with lewd gestures

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Shiekh, who had apologized on behalf of the team on Saturday, went back on his words and said that it was the fans who instigated the players.

"The players will not apologize, the incident happened in the heat of the moment," Sheikh said on Sunday.

The International Hockey Federation said that there would be no further action against Pakistani players after their coach tendered an apology for wild celebrations.

Pakistan hockey player ShafqatRasool (2nd L) makes an obscene gesture as he and teammates celebrate their victory over India. (AFP photo)
Batra also hit out at the International Hockey Federation for the lack of action.

Indian captain Sardar Singh and high performance director Roelant Oltmans had condemned the way the Pakistan players' behaviour after their win.

Sardar said, "They should not have celebrated in such a way. There were families inside the stadium and they shouldn't have taken off their shirts. Even after winning the match against Pakistan in the Asian Games, we didn't celebrate in this fashion."

"I didn't see too much of the Pakistan players but it was a bit too much," said Oltmans.

Champions Trophy: India rise to flatten Belgium, meet Pakistan in semifinals

BHUBANESWAR: 'When you fall down, you gotta pick yourself back up'. This seems to be the Indian hockey team's motto these days. The critics dismissed them when they lost their first two matches but the 'men in blue' stayed strong, regrouped and hit back. They first defeated the world No. 2 Netherlands in the group stage and on Thursday, when the stakes got higher, India got the scalp of world No. 4 Belgium 4-2 in the quarterfinals at the Kalinga Stadium which truly rocked.

Schedule & Result

Cheered on by the capacity crowd, Sardar & Co came back from a two-goal deficit to stun the Belgians and set up a dream semifinal clash with Pakistan which will be played on Saturday. In the other semifinal Germany will take on Australia. Incidentally, the top two teams from both groups at the end of the group stage are now out of the tournament. Such is the strange new format but nobody in the sub-continent is complaining.

India began the match with a lot of confidence and took the attack to Belgium early in the first quarter. They had a great chance to score on the counter after Nikkin Thimmaiah played a beautiful through pass from the left flank towards the front of the goal. But Dharamvir Singh slipped, failed to get a touch and it was the Red Lions who took the lead the very next minute from a penalty corner.

It was their third penalty corner of the match and Felix Denayer made no mistake. To the dismay of the crowd, Sebastien Dockier made it 2-0 three minutes into the second quarter. Tanguy Cosnys pushed it hard from the top of the D and Dockier flicked it beautifully past goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.

However, India took it on the chin and fought back. Cheered on by the crowd, SV Sunil won India their first penalty corner of the match through a counter-attack and Rupinder Pal Singh got into the attack. Rupinder, who had scored in the last match against the Netherlands too, flicked it into the top-right corner of the net giving no chance to the goalkeeper.

The goal lifted India who played some of the best hockey they have in a very long time throughout the second quarter. That eventually got them the equalizer three minutes from the end of first half. VR Raghunath slapped it hard from the left flank into the D and S Uthappa did well to deflect it into the net.

Belgium tried hard to get back into the game in the third quarter but some tight defending by the hosts kept the score level. The Indians did not sit back and defend. Like the first half, they counter-attacked and took the lead for the first time in the match four minutes from the end of third quarter. This time it was Akashdeep Singh who sounded the board after Sunil's shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.

Their tails up, India went into the attack, taking advantage of the huge gaps in the Belgian defence and their fourth of the night came four minutes into the fourth quarter. Manpreet Singh stole the ball in India's half and passed it to Sardar. The skipper in turn gave it to Dharamvir who calmly put it through the legs of the custodian to bring the house down.bhubaneswar