London dreams shattered for Indian women

Oh no, not the way to start!
The stadium rose in collective moan when South African No 10 Shelley Russell punished India for a Ritu Rani blunder in the 4th minute of the women’s Olympic qualifier final here on Saturday.
The blunder mattered the most as the hosts lost 1-3, thus failing to realise their dream of booking a ticket to London. India were

no match to the fitter South African side and conceding goals through errors did not help their cause. In the final, the team looked confused and even failed to trap the ball neatly. There was no doubt that the match against Italy, only 24 hours back, had taken its toll on their body and mind.
Before they could regroup after the initial blunder, South African drag flicker Pietie Coetzee sealed their fate with an absolute grounder to make it 2-0.
In the second half, the Indian eves put on a better display as they created couple of chances in the first 10 minutes. But Anuradha Devi Thokchom was the culprit both times as she failed to give the finishing touch. The Proteas, meanwhile, converted the first chance they got by in the form of a penalty corner through their skipper Marsha Marescia in the 53rd minute. It was 3-0. India did manage to pull one back Jaspreet Kaur converted a penalty corner in the 57th minute.
Stopwatch: Final: South Africa 3 (Shelley Russell 4, Pietie Coetzee 30, Marsha Marescia 53) bt India 1 (Jaspreet Kaur 57); 3rd place playoff: Italy 2 (Alessia Doriana Padalino 34, 67) bt Ukraine 1 (Bohdana Sadova 42); 5th-6th playoff: Canada 3 (Thea Culley 18, Brienna Stairs 40, Stephanie Jameson 45) bt Poland 0