Rules were broken, rues England after hockey loss

LONDON - India overcame England to enter the men’s hockey finals of the Commonwealth Games only because rules were broken to favour the home team, English players said in comments published Wednesday.

England claimed that two of India’s penalty shots as well as the third in regulation time were illegal, the Daily Telegraph quoted angry English players as saying.

“Its not as it were trying to make something out of nothing here - they broke the rules. Its hard when you feel like youve lost to something like that,” said player Richard Alexander.

“Thats why there should be video replays. Its like having a test cricket match without having Hawk-Eye. I dont understand it,” he said.

India and English finished 3-3 in a thrilling match Tuesday evening as the Indians dramatically recovered from a two-goal deficit.

Later, while India converted all their five penalties, England’s Glenn Kirkham missed.

England will now play New Zealand for bronze while India will take on world champions Australia in the final Thursday.

Alexander rued: “We should be playing against Australia at the end of the day. We invest our whole lives into this, and some players sacrifice their whole careers to play this sport and it’s a hard thing to take.”

England’s goalkeeper James Fair said: “If the rulebook has been changed for this tournament, we should have been told. We’re assuming the rules have been changed. A few of the boys were a little more heated than me.”

Jose Brasa, India’s Spanish coach, said the decisions were all within the rules.

“They can complain but I think the penalty stroke is completely legal. The critics will always be there. They won’t change.

“I am an honest coach and I work for the people of this country and not anyone else. All I want to say is that we deserved to win,” he said.