India suffer shock exit from hockey World Cup, lose to New Zealand in sudden death
Bhubaneswar, Jan 22: Hosts India made a shock exit from the FIH Men's World Cup after losing to New Zealand in sudden death in their must-win crossover match in front of a relentlessly cheering 15000 home crowd here on Sunday.
The loss ended India's hopes of a World Cup medal after 48 years.
Despite vociferous support from the jampacked Kalinga Stadium crowd, India allowed New Zealand to come back from two-goal deficit in the regulation time as the match ended at 3-3 in the regulation time.
In the penalty shootout, the scores were also tied after the first five set of strikes, and the match was finally decided via sudden death.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh had the golden chance to take India to victory in sudden death but he failed to do that as he missed the target.
Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made two saves in the shootout to rescue India after they were 2-3 down. He saved another one during the sudden death and got himself injured and Krishan Pathak replaced him in the next three rounds of strikes.
Finally, Shamsher Singh missed and Sam Lane scored to hand New Zealand the win.
New Zealand will now face defending champions Belgium, who topped Pool B, in the quarterfinals here on Tuesday.
In the regulation time, India earned as many as 11 penalty corners and converted two of them while New Zealand got just two PCs.
Yet again, it was a case of ample goal-scoring opportunities for India but the forwarrds lacked finishing skills.
India were on the offensive as soon as the match began with Mandeep Singh, who started despite taking a hit on his knee during training on Saturday, making a fine run into the New Zealand circle.
But India doubled the lead soon with Sukhjeet Singh scoring in the 24th minute, following India's fourth penalty corner.
Harmanpreet's drag-flick was palmed away by the New Zealand goalkeeper but it went up high and Sukhjeet was at the right place at the right time to volley it in.
New Zealand pulled one back a minute before half time as Sam Lane deflected a Child's low cross from the left into the Indian goal.
India were 2-1 up at the half time.
New Zealand pressed for an equaliser in the third quarter and they got into the Indian 'D' on a few occasions but the home side swelled its lead by two goal margin through a penalty corner conversion in the 41st minute.
India earned three penalty corner in the third quarters, and scored from the third PC and seventh overall with Varun Kumar sounding the board cleanly.
Three minutes later, New Zealand again cut the deficit to just one goal with Kane Russell converting a penalty corner.
In the last quarter, New Zealand made a spirited fightback and restored parity in the 50th minute following their second penalty corner of the match as Sean Findlay deflected in a Hayden Phillips strike.
Goalkeeper Krishan Pathak saved India from disaster as he palmed away a high shot from Sam Hiha in the 51st minute.
In the earlier crossover match of the day, Spain beat Malaysia 4-3 in penalty shootout to qualify for the quarterfinals after the two sides were locked 2-2 in the regulation time.
Spain will face title contenders and Pool A toppers Australia in the last eight stage on Tuesday.
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Malaysian Indian sentenced to jail and caning for raping Indonesian woman in Singapore
Singapore (PTI): An Indian-origin Malaysian man was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after tricking her into thinking that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of a subway, Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at about 8pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before he sexually assaulted her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from Women’s and Children’s Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty’s extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
