Organisers goof up India's advantage: Raghunath cleared for semis

Ipoh, Malaysia, May 10 (UNI) Drag flicker V Raghunath was today cleared to play tomorrow's semi-final tie against Malaysia in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament following a goof-up by tournament organisers whose records mistakenly showed Bimal Lakra receiving the yellow card instead of him.

Raghunath was shown the yellow card in the match against China and then again against Argentina, which should have led to his one-match suspension and missing the Malaysia match tomorrow.

Tournament director Ian Faulkner was shown a picture by the agency photographers which showed the umpire flashing the yellow card to Raghunath in the China match.

But to everybody's surprise Faulkner revealed that the player listed as receiving the yellow card was Bimal Lakra, whose name on the Indian scoresheet was just above Raghunath's.

''I have to go by the official scoresheet. As far as I know no player has been suspended for any match in this tournament. Mistakes do happen but there is nothing I can do,'' he said.

He said he will check further but the status will remain same. That means Raghunath can play tomorrow.

Funnily, the Indians appealed to Faulkner to allow the 18-year-old to play in the semi-final as it was not a red card offence, when there was no need for an appeal actually.

The Indian team was ignorant of the goof-up and coach Joaquim Carvalho was already planning to replace Raghunath with Didar Singh in the midfield.

Now the Indian officials will wait until before the match just to make sure there is no last minute problem in fielding Raghunath.

UNI