Picture Credit: Hockey India/FIH
The ongoing Junior Men's Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar witnessed one of the shameful moments when players of France and Argentina got involved in a brawl soon after the end of the first semi-final match of the event that took place between the sides. There was lack of clarity about who instigated it but the scene at the Kalinga Stadium was definitely not pleasing.
Though match referee and security staff came in between the two sides in no time and placated the players, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) took a note of the fight and started investigating it. In a recent development, the apex hockey governing body has suspended France's Raife Gonessa following the incident. Gonessa has been found to have breached the FIH Code of Conduct and has been given the penalty by FIH's Technical Delegate Adam Webster. This will see the player missing his nation's third-place game against India that is slated to take place on December 5.
"Furthermore, the case will be referred to the FIH CEO for further consideration by the FIH Disciplinary Commissioner," said FIH in a statement.
The incident in detail
Argentina were favourites to win the game after converting three of their first four chances in the penalty shootout, leading 3-1 against France. Lucas Montecot took the fourth strike for France and missed the goal by a whisker and the 2013 finalists got out of the title race following that.
Argentina were on cloud nine for the fact they had made it to the final that too with a win over a quality team like France, but their happiness was marred for a while after some reported abusive languages used by one of the opponent players. This led to the fight between the players of the two sides. However, the match referees soon came between the players to avoid any serious problem and the security staff also invaded the pitch to help the officials.
