By Kirill Pirogov
Our girls scored ten points during the preliminary round, in subgroup B, enabling them to climb to second place and go through to the semi-finals, alongside Germany. Samvel Kagramanyan’s trainees then faced the tournament’s favourite — Holland — famed in the world of indoor hockey. As expected, the Dutch snatched a confident win of 7:0.
In the match for bronze, Belarus opposed Ukraine. They led during the match but finally lost 2:4. However, fourth place in the world rankings is the highest achievement demonstrated by Belarusian indoor hockey (having claimed fifth place at the championships in 2003 and 2007). Gold went to Germany, followed by Holland.
Thinking ahead to qualification for the 2012 Olympics, we can be optimistic about our team’s chances. Additionally, the junior football team and the national women’s basketball team have also a chance of taking part in the Games.
