Indian Jr women's hockey team lose 1-4 to Belarus Sr team

Baranovichi (Belarus): India's junior women's hockey team went down 1-4 to Belarus senior team here.

High on confidence having won the Cantor Fitzgerald U21 International 4-Nations title, India kicked off the proceedings at a very fast pace. Within the opening minutes of the match India won a Penalty Corner and Gagandeep Kaur made no mistake in converting it to give the team an early lead. After that goal though Belarus pulled up their socks and hit back with a PC of their own. Sviatlana Bahushevich converted to draw level.

After a frenetic first quarter, both teams settled down in the second and the pace of the game dropped considerably. Belarus won the first PC of the period and Krestsina Papkova scored the goal to give the team a 2-1 lead. The third quarter started with India hoping to take more control of the game in midfield but Belarus scored via another PC conversion in the opening minutes of the period with Yuliya Mikheichyk extending the lead to 3-1.

In a productive period, Belarus scored another one to take it further to 4-1. India tried hard to score a goal but despite creating chances they struggled to convert and reduce the deficit. India ramped up the pressure in the final quarter hoping to score goals and put the rivals under pressure, but in the end Belarus' defence held strong to win the match.