Pyari Xaxa scores eight-minute hat-trick in India vs Maldives international friendly

Pyari Xaxa scores eight-minute hat-trick in India vs Maldives international friendly

Pyari Xaxa netted an eight-minute hat-trick during the first half of India’s international friendly against Maldives at the Padukone – Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru on Monday.

The forward rippled the net in the seventh, eighth, and 15th minutes, assisting Lynda Kom in the 12th before notching up her third goal.

Having made her senior team debut in 2015, just after turning 18, the girl from Kuarmunda – a small town in Odisha – was one of the most promising youngsters when the Indian women clinched gold in the South Asian Games in 2016.

Xaxa has been the face of Odisha’s attack at the national level and one of India’s most promising forwards since, alongside Manisha Kalyan and Ngangom Bala Devi.

She recently netted 12 goals in the Senior Women’s National Football Championship and helped Odisha reach the final, where the State finished runner-up.

This was Joakim Alexandersson’s, the newly hired U-17 and U-20 teams coach. first game in-charge of the Blue Tigresses. While the squad included youngsters, it also had the presence of seasoned senior internationals like Pyari and Dangmei Grace.