In a home match hosted by Minsk’s Uruchie Palace of Sports, the Belarusian squad began confidently, scoring several times, and taking a lead, before allowing their rivals to go on the attack. Sadly, by halftime, Yuri Shevtsov’s trainees had allowed their guests to equalise, with the score standing at 13:13.
Belarus’ national team before principal match begins
In the second half, the Latvian team, led by Dainis Kristopans (a player with HC Meshkov Brest) took the lead and held it until ten minutes before the final whistle. Then, the Belarusian team ‘lost’ its captain, Sergey Rutenko, yet managed to take the initiative, to eventually win 26:24.
The lead of two balls creates no advantage for the Belarusian team, leaving its chance of a place at the World Championship finals to be decided at the return match.
By Igor Svitov