Captain Savita Punia led from the front with a spectacular display as the Indian women’s hockey team overcame the stopwatch controversy to beat New Zealand 2-1 in shootout and win the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday. This is the team’s first medal at CWG in 16 years.

Leading 1-0, India conceded a penalty corner with less than 30 seconds to go for the final hooter, as the match went into shootout after Olivia Merry’s equaliser. India got the lead through Salima Tete in the 29th minute. Coming off their heartbreaking loss to Australia in a controversial semifinal, India showed the intent to wrap up their campaign with a win and earn a podium finish.

The Indians were done in by a horrendous timing faux pas in the shoot-out against Australia. In the shootout on Sunday, India captain and goalkeeper Savita showed her class, pulling off three spectacular saves to give her side its third CWG medal. After Megan Hull put New Zealand ahead, an agile Savita denied Rose Tynan, Katie Doar and Olivia Shanon, while Sonika and Navneet scored for India to register a famous win.

Savita happy

“We knew it wouldn’t be easy, so before we came, we worked every minute and every second. I am so proud. We fought as a team,” Savita said. On the pressure of being a goalkeeper in the shootout, she said, “The pressure is always there, but all credit goes to my coach (Janneke Schopman) who told me ‘you are good, so just believe in yourself and watch the ball’.” The Indians came out attacking and made plenty of circle penetrations but failed to break the solid New Zealand defence.

India finally took the lead a minute from half-time through Salima, who scored off a rebound with a reverse hit after Navneet Kaur’s initial shot was saved by the opposition goalie.