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The National Games 2023 saw its first controversy on Saturday (November 4) during the men's water polo final between Maharashtra and the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), with the latter crying foul play.
After the completion of the 32-minute allotted time period, the two teams were locked at 10-10 and the penalty shootout took place to decide the tie-breaker. However, chaos ensued during the penalty shootout.
There was a complaint from the Services' camp that Maharashtra goalkeeper Mandar Bhoir stepped out of the goalline even before the scorer signaled for the shoot after two penalty shoots were completed.
Things didn't stop there, with some rift between the Services coach and technical officials at the venue. Services refused to defend the last penalty shoot as a mark of protest against the match officials.
“The judge asked the goal judge to move away from the goalline and then allowed the goalkeeper to come forward. The goalkeeper’s movement narrowed the angle for our thrower,” a Services official was quoted as saying by The Bridge.
"This is the fault of the technical committee, and that is why we are protesting. Our coach was indicating that the goalkeeper has moved ahead," he added.
Maharashtra take home gold despite the drama
Maharashtra, who are the table leaders in the 37th National Games medal tally, remained calm to clinch the gold medal with a margin of 14-12 in the end. The state association won its first national title in men's water polo after 26 years.
Maharashtra's medal count jumped to 182 by the end of Saturday, having bagged 64 gold, 59 silver and 59 bronze medals. They are far ahead of the second-placed Services with 99 medals - 51 gold, 22 silver and 26 bronze.
Services are the defending champions of the National Games and they can still win this season if they pip Maharashtra on the gold medal list. Maharashtra won 140 medals last year in contrast to Services' 128, however, with 39 gold medals, the Western Indian state was no match to SSCB's 61.
