Hayden Shaw scored a last-gasp winner as New Zealand defeated India 2-1 to send the former champions crashing out of the semi-final race in the Olympic men's field hockey on Saturday.
Shaw found the target with the fourth penalty corner taken in succession after the final hooter to leave India with their third defeat in four matches in group "B".
The Indians lodged a protest at the umpire's decision to award the fourth corner, but will rue their repeated bungling in front of the rival goal.
The worst came in the second half when Baljit Dhillon pushed wide despite being less that six feet in front of the goal with the Kiwi custodian beaten.
India took no lessons from Saturday's first match in which Asian Games champions South Korea thrashed Egypt 11-0 to record the biggest victory of the competition so far.
"We did everything but score," said India's German coach Gerhard Rach. "I don't think New Zealand deserved a penalty corner at the end and we have protested about it.
"But that is no excuse for the defeat. We just did not play well."
India, who won the last of their eight gold medals at the western-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980, face Argentina in their last match on Monday before going into the classification matches. India finished seventh at Sydney four years ago.
New Zealand moved to six points behind defending champions the Netherlands and Australia, who each have a game in hand.
"It was absolutely thrilling to get that final goal when it mattered," said Shaw. "It's something I will always remember."
The Koreans, meanwhile, pumped in five goals in an eight-minute burst towards the end against Egypt.
Lee Jung-Seon led the rout with five goals, while Song Seung-Tae hit three in the space of four minutes.
The win helped the Koreans join world champions Germany at the top of group "A" with seven points, but that honour may be short-lived.
The Germans take on Britain and Pakistan, who have six points, meet Spain later on Saturday.
South Korea will need another round of deadly marksmanship in their last game against Germany on Monday if they are to qualify for the semi-finals.
"Of course Monday's match will be different from this one," said Korean manager Jeon Jae-Hong. "But we are confident of doing well against the world champions.
"I will be happy if we score less than half of these goals against them."
Egypt, the All-Africa Games champions, suffered their fourth successive loss, having scored just two goals while conceding 27.
group B
India 1 New Zealand 2
India 1 (Dhanraj Pillay 62)
New Zealand 2 (Phillip Burrows 36, Hayden Shaw 70)
group A
South Korea 11 Egypt 0
South Korea 11 (Lee Jung-Seon (16, 25, 37, 59, 68,) Jeon Jong-Ha (29,) Seo Jong-Ho (57,) Song Seung-Tae (62, 65, 65,) You Hyo-Sik (66)
Egypt 0.
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