A battered team was picked up by former Olympian Katrina Powell,who,with the players,restored unity to the Australian set-up. But on the pitch,they found in Tokyo on Monday that their resilience could only stretch so far.
Australia had nine penalty corners to India’s one,and a majority of scoring chances,but converted none. Ambrosia Malone hit the post with a shot in the second minute,and Brooke Peris missed narrowly,but from there on Australia’s surfeit of penalty corners came to nothing.
Complicated rehearsed moves were tried,the direct shot from Maddie Fitzpatrick was pounded into the Indian defence,but the wall was not breached. India’s Gurjit Gaur scored in the second quarter,and her team defended as if their lives depended on it.
India celebrated their 1-0 win with the same enthusiasm as they took into the game. Having lost their first three matches,they are now in a semi-final against Argentina. This will also gall the Australians,who defeated Argentina comfortably in their pool match. But their destiny was in their own hands in this quarter-final,and India’s energetic approach triggered and capitalised upon the frustration that grew in the Australian team as the reality of elimination got closer.
The Australians were visibly devastated after their loss,some of the players collapsing in despair and unable to leave the pitch for minutes. Not just a poor day but a hard year had reached its end.
“Totally gutted,” Powell summed up the mood. “India are obviously a very good team,very skilful,very fast,and ready for us today. I felt like we were ready to go,but it just wasn’t our day. We created plenty of opportunities but only have ourselves to blame.”