Coach disappointed with umpiring decisions

Jose Brasa was at his sarcastic best as he expressed disappointment at the umpiring decisions during the India-South Africa match on Monday. Referring to the sequence of events that led to an Indian goal being disallowed and South Africa scoring one off a penalty corner awarded by the video umpire, Brasa said it was a commendable performance by the Indians to fight back from there.
“I’m happy our players overcame a lot of problems before and during the match for a draw and earned the right to play for seventh place,” coach said.

“By problems, I mean the referral decision in the second half. First they disallowed the goal, then they awarded South Africa a penalty corner off which they scored. That was after a video review done after more than a minute.

“I’m not saying they were mistaken. Maybe they still think they are right. I’m just saying our boys did well bouncing back from such a situation,” he said, adding that he wasn’t against the referral system, just that it shouldn’t take the umpires more than a minute to decide to refer a decision.

He also said India were denied a referral after South Africa scored the first goal. “Our players thought that the ball hit the back of the stick when it went into the goal. But the field umpires didn’t deem it fit to refer it,” he said.

He also complained of the turf being dry during the match. “Our boys complained that the turf had not been watered. But the Technical Officer didn’t think so.”

Meanwhile, captain Rajpal also said the penalty corner that the opposition got was wrongly awarded as the ball rose to a dangerous height after being hit by a South African player.

The rival team agreed the incident was bizarre but insisted that the decision was right.

“The system is still evolving. We had appealed immediately, but we were also falling back to defend at the same time. The decision was right as the ball had touched the Indian player’s body, and it was after that that the goal which was disallowed was scored by the Indians,” said South African captain Austin Smith.