Hockey World Cup 2023: 'Tough luck', Twitterati heartbroken after New Zealand knock India out

New Zealand held their nerves to edge India in the penalty shootout at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday, as the hosts crashed out of the 2023 Hockey World Cup. Despite being ahead in the game, India missed the opportunity to build on a 3-1 lead in the third quarter, when New Zealand scored twice in the final quarter to tie the game at the end of the regular time, forcing a penalty shootout. In regular time, India’s goals came from Lalit Upadhyay (17 minutes), Sukhjeet Singh (24 minutes), and Varun Kumar (40 minutes), whereas the Black Sticks’ goals came from Sam Lane (28 minutes), Kane Russell (43 minutes), and Sean Findlay (49 minutes). India battled back to tie the score at 3-3 in the shootout thanks to a few outstanding saves from seasoned goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, and had two chances in the sudden death as Shamsher Singh missed the final shootout attempt to lose 4-5 in front of the home crowd. Twitterati, especially the Indian Twitter fraternity, were heartbroken following the hosts’ exit from the tournament. Here are some reactions:

With inputs from ANI