Bhubaneswar: It was a bizarre scene on the field during the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup Pool B match between Japan and South Korea at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) as well as the international hockey fraternity was stunned to see that the Japan team had 12 players on the field during a penalty corner set-piece vs South Korea. Now the FIH is investigating the issue and can penalise Japan despite apologies by the Japan Hockey team.
The incident occurred when Japan was trailing by 1-2 and were awarded a penalty corner in the dying moments of the match.
While taking the penalty corner no one realised that Japan had 12 players on the field. Japan had withdrawn their goalkeeper in the last two minutes for an extra man up front. But surprisingly still the number exceeded the regulatory 11 players on each side.
The match ended in a 2-1 win for the Koreans. Had Japan scored off their last penalty corner, the match could have ended in a 2-2 draw with an unfair advantage of an extra Japanese player on the ground.
The FIH released a statement on the issue, saying they are “currently investigating” the incident.
“After the match, the FIH officials – who have not spotted this situation at the moment – spoke to the Japanese team who explained that they didn’t realise this and expressed their most sincere apologies,” the FIH said.
“The FIH officials have explained the matter to the Korean team” and the federation is “currently investigating the issue to establish how it happened,” the FIH release said.
