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Kathmandu Sunday August 19, 2001 Bhadra 03, 2058.
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Elite’s Red win ANFA Youth C’ship
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 18 - Elite’s Co-ed (Red) became the first Inter-school
ANFA Youth Champions defeating their fellow schoolmates Elite’s Co-ed (Blue) 2-1 in
the title match played on Saturday.
The Elite’s Red, marginally the better team of the two, emerged as the
winner as they kept their calm till the final blow of the whistle. Although Elite’s
Blue matched the attacks of their Red counterparts during the entire course of the match,
they were not as confident when they had to play in their own half.
The Red boys, who gained the lead in 35th minute, dominated most of the first
half with attacks coming in at frequent intervals. Saugat Subba, taking the ball in from
nearly the halfway mark nudged it into the opponent goal as Blue ‘keeper Rajiv
Shrestha was caught off-balance in the waterlogged ground.
The Red boys kept the momentum going even after going 1-0 up in the match.
Apart from attacking, they kept their defence tight. The Red defenders looked at ease
keeping the rival forwards at bay.
The best chance for the Blue boys came in the 44th minute when Gaurav Thapa
failed to capitalise on the corner kick passed to him. The ball was stopped brilliantly by
Red goalie Bikash Malla.
The Blue team, 1-0 behind at the start of the second half, started positively
in the second half. Trying to make amends to their first half efforts, they were on the
offensive right away.
The aggression paid dividends as Birat Thapa neutralised the Red lead 4
minutes into the second half. Thapa did not lose any time to dispose the ball into the net
after Gaurav Thapa’s shot bounced off the Elite’s Red crossbar.
The goal, acting as a catalyst lifted the game of both the sides as both
launched a wave of attacks to wrest the initiative. Ten minutes after conceding the goal,
the Red boys lost an opportunity to get into the lead again as Som Bahadur Thapa missed to
net an easy chance. He shot the ball above the crossbar when he had almost a vacant goal
to himself, with only the goalkeeper in front of him.
However, Bijay Gurung scored for the Elite’s Red in the 86th minute to
decide the fate of the tournament. The ball crossed by Shekhar Thapa from the half line
was neatly put into the goal by Gurung.
Saugat Subba, a key to Red boys’ win today, was adjudged the best player
of the tournament while he shared the trophy for the highest scorer with Deepak Khawas of
the same team— with 7 goals each in the tournament.
New Millennium School bagged the award for the fair play.
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