Sandeep Singh

New Delhi: Disappointed with the bronze medal finish at the Asian Games, ace drag flicker Sandeep Singh on Sunday said that the Indian hockey team was the best in the quadrennial event but lack of video referral system deprived the team of a well-deserved victory against Malaysia in the semi-final.

India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the league phase and defending champions Korea in the bronze medal playoff. The Indian team lost to Malaysia through Muhammad Amin Rahim's golden goal in the semi-final despite leading 3-2 till the 67th minute. Amin had earlier converted a penalty corner to equalise.

The former captain, who finished as highest scorer (11) of the tournament, echoed the sentiments of chief coach Jose Brasa in condemning the standard of umpiring.

“After watching the videos of the semi-final we realised that the penalty corner, from which Malaysia scored their third goal, should actually have been a hit in our favour. The ball hit the foot of a Malaysian before it touched Gurbaj Singh. Similarly we deserved a penalty stroke at the last minute. It was poor umpiring which put us out of the title contention,” Sandeep said.

“India was definitely the best team in the tournament. We had defeated Pakistan and Korea. We were better than other teams in all departments of the game,” he said.

The ace full back was playing in his first Asian Games and wanted to give his best.

“I could not play Doha Asiad and the World Cup in 2006 due to that unfortunate bullet injury. This was my first Asian Games and I wanted to be part of the gold-medal winning team. My personal aim was to score the maximum goals and my conversion rate was more then 75 per cent. I am happy with my performance but not winning the yellow metal will haunt us for a long time to come,” he said.