Belarus senior women beat Indian junior girls by 4-1 goals

ByPress Release, SportsCafe Editor

06/10/2019

The Indian junior women’s hockey team was beaten by the Belarus senior women’s hockey side by 4-1 goals at Baranovichi in Belarus on Sunday. Gagandeep Kaur was the only girl who managed to find the back of the net for the Indian girls in the entire match against the Belarus team yesterday.

High on confidence, courtesy of having won the Cantor Fitzgerald U21 International 4-Nations, India kicked off proceedings at a very fast pace. Within the opening minutes of the match they won a PC, and Gagandeep Kaur made no mistake to convert and give India the lead. After that goal though Belarus pulled up their socks and hit back with a PC of their own. Sviatlana Bahushevich converted to draw them level. The two teams went into the break level on a goal apiece.

After a frenetic first quarter both teams settled down in the second, and a as a consequence, the pace of the game dropped considerably. Belarus won the first PC of the period and Krestsina Papkova scored the goal to give them a 2-1 lead they would take into halftime.

The third quarter started with India hoping to take more control of the game in midfield and draw themselves level. Belarus though scored via a PC conversion in the opening minutes of the period, Yuliya Mikheichyk making the score 3-1. In a productive period they scored another to extend their lead to 4-1. India worked hard through the quarter, but despite creating chances they struggled to convert and reduce the deficit. The teams went into the break with Belarus leading 4-1.

India ramped up the pressure in the final quarter hoping to score goals and put Belarus under pressure, but in the end Belarus' defence held strong and took a 4-1 victory.