Russia thrash Ghana 7-1 in Hero FIH Hockey World League Round 2 (Women)

New Delhi, March 14, 2015: Match two of the day witnessed an intensive game of hockey between Russia and Ghana as they took on each other in the classification match of Hero FIH Hockey World League Round 2 (Women) at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi. With an astounding play throughout the game, Russia outplayed Ghana women 7-1 to record a huge triumph over them.

Russian women commenced the first quarter of the game on an attacking note and they received an early penalty corner but missed to capitalise. Ghana intensified their play in the next few minutes and looked out for opportunities to find the nets through the weak Russian defence. Their efforts bore fruit as Rachael Bamfo stroked a brilliant field goal in the 10th minute of the match to give her team a lead of 1-0 over Russia. Russia immediately sensed the importance of levelling the score and Ksenia Shamina did the imperative task for her team. In the 12th minute, Ksenia scored a field goal to equalise the scores. Ksenia Shamina struck again to score the second goal for her team in the 15th minute, another penalty corner conversion as Russia led over Ghana by 2-1 by the end of first quarter.

In the second quarter, Ghana solidified their defence line up a bit as their strikers eyed opportunities to score an equaliser. Russia continued with their game plan and kept taking shots at the goal post. In the 26thminute, Kristina Shumilina scored the third goal for Russia, a penalty corner conversion thereby widening the score gap between her team and Ghana. The half time score stood at 3-1 with Russia leading from the front.

Russia kept going strong through the third quarter as well. They were given two successive penalty corners in the early minutes of the quarter and the women from Russia realised both the opportunities elevating the score to 5-1. Kseniia Svezhentseva converted both the penalty corners in the 32nd and 33rd minute as Russian women took an insurmountable lead over the eves from Ghana by the last part of third quarter.

Continuing their strong penalty corner conversions, Russia bagged the sixth and seventh goal when Kseniia Svezhentseva and Ksenia Shamina effortlessly converted two straight penalty corners awarded to the team in the 54th and 58th minute of the game. With an insuperable advancement of 7-1 over Ghana women, Russia registered a humongous win in the match. 

Speaking on the match, Coach of Ghana Osei Boakye-Yiadom said, “We knew that it was going to be a tough match. Some decisions were unfortunate for our team and we conceded too many penalty corners. It is the finals for ustomorrow and we would like to finish the tournament on a winning note.”

Upbeat on today’s win, Coach of Russia Oleg Potapov said, “We converted our penalty corners successfully today and that helped us win the match. Though the opponent was weak, we didn’t take them lightly. For the last few matches, we failed to convert penalty corners into goals but in today’s match the players clicked well and everything went according to the plan. Today’s victory came late to us but the team has gained confidence after this win.”

HI Press release