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India put in a hard-fought performance but ended up with a 1-2 loss against Venezuela in their final game of the Torneio Internacional de Futebol Feminino at the Arena da Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil on Thursday, December 2.
Forward Dangmei Grace put India in front with a first-half header but Venezuela came out all guns blazing in the second half and claimed the win thanks to goals from Marianna Speckmaier and Barbara Olivieri.
Venezuela started the brighter of the two sides and tested India goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan from distance a number of times in the opening 15 minutes through shots from Kimberlyn Campos and Barbara Olivieri.
But it was India who got the breakthrough in the 18th minute through a seemingly harmless situation. A free-kick just inside the Venezuela half was sent into the box by Ritu Rani and Dangmei snuck in between two opposition defenders to head past the onrushing goalkeeper to give her side the lead.
After conceding, Venezuela put pressure on India and started getting closer to the equaliser. Five minutes past the half-hour mark, Gabriela Garcia had a shot from the edge of the box but it was tipped over the bar by Chauhan.
The South American side picked up from where they had left off in the second half and equalised on the 50th minute. Substitute Speckmaier was on hand to slot in a corner kick that had evaded everybody.
Ten minutes from the end, Olivieri received the ball on the right with loads of space to run into and she finished coolly past Chauhan to give Venezuela the win.
INDIA WOMEN: Aditi Chauhan – Sorokhaibam Ranjana Chanu (46′ Wangkhem Linthoingambi Devi), Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Manisa Panna – Sanju (46′ Hemam Shilky Devi), Indumathi Kathiresan [C] (60′ Karthika A), Martina Thokchom, B. Mariyammal (46′ Yumnam Kamala Devi) – Manisha Kalyan (71′ Pyari Xaxa), Dangmei Grace (71′ Soumya Guguloth)
