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Kathmandu Sunday July 09, 2000 Ahsad 25, 2057.
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Jhapa lift inter-school soccer title
By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, July 8 - A double strike from Dipen Khatri in the
opening session guided Jhapa to the 2nd inter-school football tournament title with a 3-1
win over Morang in the final played at Dashrath stadium Saturday.
The final developed into a competitive battle with either
side, frequently exchanging attacks in their bid to the early cushion.
With Dilip Shrestha and Binod Lama playing linchpin in the
midfield, spraying swift one-to-one passes, Morang looked threatening to the Jhapa
defence. But Jhapa, probably with the best defence among all the participating teams, kept
the rival attackers at bay most of the times with neat tackling.
All three defenders--Deepak Tamang, Tikaram Karki and Santosh
Kafle looked confident with their neat tackling. While Tamang and Karki rarely allowed the
ball past them through right and left, Kafle stood as a pillar in his role of central
defender.
In the 34th minute, Jhapa went ahead breaking free from
Morang midfield dominance. Dipen Khatri after dispossessing the ball from a Morang
midfielder out run him and beat the advancing keeper, unleashing a well directed shot to
the target.
Morang’s Jatika Dewan put away an easy chance within a
couple of minutes from that goal but a rare defensive error allowed Binod Lama ample space
to manoeuvre a superb move with Dilip Shrestha and Dinesh Chaudhary easily rolled his
right footer from close to restore parity at 1-1.
But a goalkeeping error saw Morang trail Jhapa once again as
Khatri tapped the ball home off the left cross in the 43rd minute for a 2-1 half-time
lead. That could have been more and a hat trick for Khatri but his abruptly taken header
despite having all the time in the world, was wide off goal.
Although both sides had fair share of possession in the
second session, Morang failed to carry their brilliance beyond the midfield while Jhapa
always seemed to have much more bite in their attack. And Subash Khadka, younger brother
of national striker Hari Khadka compounding on another Morang defensive lapse, added one
more to the total for a 3-1 lead that ensured the title for Jhapa.
Morang, who were unlucky not to find the target on several
occasions towards the close had some consolation as their playmaker, Binod Lama, was
adjudged the best player of the tournament.
Under Secretary at Ministry of Education and Sports, Chuman
Singh Basnet gave away trophies and certificates to the winning team, runners-up and third
placed Bhaktapur team after the final. Bhaktapur had earlier defeated Kapilvastu in the
play-off match that was played on Friday. The 12-day tournament organised by the Ministry
of Education and Sports on the occasion of 30th Birthday of Crown Prince Dipendra drew a
total of 18 school teams. |