Poland and Ukraine have qualified for the 5-6 classification game at the women’s Indoor World Cup in Leipzig following respective victories against Belarus and Australia on Thursday.

Poland fought back from a goal down to beat Belarus 3-2 in the first of the 5-8 classification matches, confirming their place in the 5th place play-off thanks to goals from Paulina Okaj, Joanna Wieloch and Natalia Wisniewska.

Belarus Head Coach Ihar Mirzahayanau could not hide his disappointment with the result, but said that he struggled to motivate his players following Thursday’s quarter-final shoot-out defeat at the hands of Austria. “We are very sad as it was out aim to finish in the top four. After yesterday’s loss in the shootout it was very hard for me to get the girls in the right mood, so this match was very difficult for us.”

Poland’s opponents in the Sunday’s 5-6 classification game will be Ukraine, who battled to a shoot-out victory over Australia.  The match finished with the scores locked at 3-3, with Yana Sitalo scoring the crucial goal in the shoot-out following two saves from Ukrainian shot-stopper Tetyana Stepanchenko to force the Aussies into the 7-8 play-off.

“Personally I am not happy with our overall performance because I wanted us to play off for the semis,” said Ukraine Captain Maryna Vynohradova. “At least we get the chance to fight for fifth place, which is the best we can do in our situation.”
Poland and Ukraine have qualified for the 5-6 classification game at the women’s Indoor World Cup in Leipzig following respective victories against Belarus and Australia on Thursday.

5-8 classification matches
Poland fought back from a goal down to beat Belarus 3-2 in the first of the 5-8 classification matches, confirming their place in the 5th place play-off thanks to goals from Paulina Okaj, Joanna Wieloch and Natalia Wisniewska. Belarus Head Coach Ihar Mirzahayanau could not hide his disappointment with the result, but said that he struggled to motivate his players following Thursday’s quarter-final shoot-out defeat at the hands of Austria. “We are very sad as it was out aim to finish in the top four. After yesterday’s loss in the shootout it was very hard for me to get the girls in the right mood, so this match was very difficult for us.”

Poland’s opponents in the Sunday’s 5-6 classification game will be Ukraine, who battled to a shoot-out victory over Australia.  The match finished with the scores locked at 3-3, with Yana Sitalo scoring the crucial goal in the shoot-out following two saves from Ukrainian shot-stopper Tetyana Stepanchenko to force the Aussies into the 7-8 play-off. “Personally I am not happy with our overall performance because I wanted us to play off for the semis,” said Ukraine Captain Maryna Vynohradova. “At least we get the chance to fight for fifth place, which is the best we can do in our situation.”

9th /10th Place
South Africa claimed a ninth place finish at the Indoor World Cup with a 4-2 victory against Canada. The two sides were locked together at 2-2 at the break, but Eloise Walters scored twice in the final eight minutes to earn South Africa the win.

11th / 12th Place
A late double from Marie Ronquetti gave Belgium’s Red Foxes a 6-5 win over Belarus, giving the Red Foxes an 11th place finish in the tournament.  “It is a great feeling to score the winning goal”, said Ronquetti, with Kazakhstan captain Natalya Gataulina stating: “We are very disappointed with our performance at this World Cup. In the end we were too tired to fight back, but it has been great to play top nations such as Netherlands, Belarus and Czech Republic. We came here to learn and we have done just that.”

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