Champions Trophy: Sardar Singh hails team's performance in final despite loss

Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh, who was rested for the FIH Champions Trophy, on Saturday lavished praise on his side for their valiant performance despite losing the pulsating finale against world champions Australia.

"Great effort by our team in the finals of #HCT2016 and congrats for Silver medal. We will continue to work hard to make our country proud," Sardar Singh wrote on Twitter.

India, led by stand-in skipper PR Sreejesh, showcased a gritty performance as they dominated third and fourth quarters before losing a controversy-marred penalty shootout 1-3 in London.

Harmanpreet Singh was the lone scorer in the shootout as SK Uthappa, SV Sunil and Surender Kumar missed the target.

Although India protested against a second successful attempt awarded to Daniel Beale, the technical delegate rejected the appeal saying that there was unintentional obstruction on part of Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh and, therefore, the re-take of the shot was justified.

Nevertheless, India still achieved their best ever finish in the tournament. They had earlier won a bronze medal way back in 1982 at Amsterdam.