Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey rues missed chances by India after WC exit

Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey on Sunday rued that the hosts wasted chances galore during their sudden death defeat in the crossover match against New Zealand as they made a shock exit from the hockey World Cup here.

India allowed New Zealand to come back from two-goal lead twice in the regulation time as the match ended 3-3 after 60 minutes. India eventually lost 4-5 in sudden death.

"We got a lot of chances to win the match. We have been talking that penalty corners are very important to win matches, but we wasted one after the other," Tirkey, also a former captain and one of the best defenders of his time, said in a video on his Twitter handle.

"After that, we got the chance to win in the penalty shootout. We got two chances. Our goalkeepers saved twice in sudden death and we had the chance to win, that also we wasted," he said without criticising the team.

Tirkey, the most capped India player with 412 international matches, said the team has learnt a lot from the defeat.

"I hope that we do well in the next match." India play Japan on January 26 in the inconsequential ninth to 16th place classification match.