Three Indian hockey players, their assistant coach and manager have been banned for two to three matches for hitting Pakistan players with hockey sticks while Pakistan captain Shakeel Abbasi was also banned for one match. The ban came after Indian hockey players fought with Pakistan teams on Friday in Busselton in the tri-nation tournament match which ended in a 3-3 draw.
At the time India were leading 3-0, when Pakistan’s Sohail Abbas struck two goals and captain Shakeel Abbasi scored the last goal just in time to end the draw game. Indian player Gurbaj Singh had a scuffle with Pakistani players near the penalty corner and the fight changed into physical violence. The incident forced the match to be stopped for about half an hour.
Even though the two teams returned to the turf later, they agreed not to resume the match. Pakistan players Imran Shah and Shafaqat Rasool were injured in the tussle and so was Gurbaj. Indian players Rupinder Pal Singh, Tushar Khandkar and Danish Mujtaba scored three goals for their team, which led the game almost to the end before Pakistan equalised.
This was the last match of first leg.
