In the second round of the AFC Woman’s Olympics Qualifying Tournament, Indian team keeps its winning streak on check, as they register their fifth consecutive victory on Wednesday, beating Indonesia for second time, for 2-0. Previously, on Sunday, India had defeated Indonesia for 3-0.
Keeping the winning momentum alive, Indian team applied pressure on opponents from the starting of the game. Sanju and Ratanbala Devi on the wings kept challenging the opponents defence at alters, which was poorly countered by the Indonesian team. A couple of early free-kicks from long range saw, winger Sanju, and striker Anju Tamang missing narrowly. Sanju’s cross in the 24th minute and Sandhya’s run on the 26th minutes caught the defenders off guard. Sanju put the visitors into the lead with a perfectly-placed shot into the top right corner after Ratanbala played her through into the Indonesian penalty area. The goal gave the Indians more purpose to continue their attack in the second half. Indonesia almost made the scores level in a few minutes of the second half, but the ball hit the cross bar and looped out of play. However, in the 67th minute, India doubled their lead, when Dangmei Grace finished a shot from Sumithra Kamaraj by chipped a rebound over the Indonesia keeper to make it 2-0. The midfield then dominated possession and kept Indonesia on their toes. This victory put the Indian National team a step closer to making it to the 2020 Tokyo Games.
