ANFA drafts ambitious programmes

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 5 - The newly elected executive committee of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), under Geeta Rana, presented their programme for the coming year at a function held at the ANFA complex, Saatdobato on Wednesday.

At the first press conference after the election, Geeta Rana, president of the association, said that the plans put forward in the proposal would be implemented through decentralisation of the ANFA. "We need to go for decentralisation as most of our activities are at the local level," Rana said.

The ambitious proposal, passed by the central executive committee, stresses on initiating competitive football at the ward level and school level. Besides, the programme also concentrates on development of football infrastructure across the country and bringing corporate sponsorship in the game.

Rana, however, conceded that the association’s primary objective is getting recognition of Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

"We are in constant touch with the AFC," she said. "As the election was carried out according to AFC guidelines, we expect AFC to recognise our committee as the football governing body in Nepal."

Fielding reporters’ queries on the long-standing ANFA dispute, Rana said that the problem could be resolved if the other party headed by Ganesh Thapa so wishes.

"We are ready to join forces with them," she said. "Although any change in the present executive committee is not possible, we can accommodate them in any of the sub-committees under ANFA."

Wilson Academy girls dominate

LALITPUR, Dec 5 (PR) - Wilson Academy entered the girl’s final undefeated in the 4th Sagarmatha Inter-school basketball tournament following their 19-15 victory over Pennwood Academy on Wednesday.

The Wilson girls gathered all nine points winning three consecutive matches of their category played in round robin format. The final will be the repeat of today’s match as Pennwood Academy had already qualified following two wins in their previous encounters.

In the day’s other matches, Swarnim’s junior boys defeated Angles’ Heart 23-8.

Likewise, LRI, Alpha, RIBS, Baba, Xavier, Shridewa, Sagarmatha and Wilson are the team being qualified for the senior boys’ quarterfinals of the tournament.

 Rupak Memorial into final

LALITPUR, Dec 5 (PR) - Rupak Memorial International School set up the final with St. Xavier’s Blue following their 4-1 win in penalties over St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel Wednesday in the Father Moran memorial inter-school football tournament.

The match remained competitive with both the teams playing an aggressive brand of football. As neither of the two could break the deadlock in the regulation time and added extra time, the game prolonged to the shoot-out.

Sajan Shrestha, Santosh Maharjan, Bikram Lama, and Durga Basnet successfully converted their shots into goal for Rupak Memorial. Much to the disappointment of the Xavier’s supporters, Manish KC was the lone converter of the penalty as they bowed out 4-1. The winners, Rupak Memorial, will meet St. Xavier’s Blue in the final on Saturday.

Record breaking 7-under 65 puts Mundy into lead

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KATHMANDU, Dec 5 - Uttam Singh Mundy of Kolkata carded a brilliant seven-under par 65, a new course record, at par-72 Gokarna Golf Club Wednesday to lead the table by two strokes on the opening day of the Rs 1.44 million Surya Nepal Masters 2001.

After the morning fog delayed start of play by almost two hours, the 1997 champion made hay in glorious sunshine and excellent weather as he returned with a card that was studded with eight birdies and one three-putt bogey. Rookie Rahil Gangjee, also from Kolkata, was second at five-under 67. Feroz Ali and Sanjay Kumar occupied the joint third place at four-under 68.

Among the Nepalese pros, Radhey Shyam Thapa of Tribhuvan Army Officers’ Golf Club was the best with a level-par 72 that gave him a tied 13th spot. Local home club pro Deepak Acharya shot a 75 to be in joint 17th place along with Sabin Sapkota of Dharan.

Mundy, who has been playing some excellent golf in recent tourneys in the Indian Golf Tour, was in sparkling form. Although, he missed a couple of easy birdie chances from less than five feet in his first two holes, he came back strongly, recording four birdies in the next five holes before making his only bogey of the day on the eighth. However, a birdie on the ninth restored parity and he finished his front nine at four-under.

On the back nine, the 36-year-old Mundy sank a monster 25-footer to save par on the par-3 10th. He followed it up with two consecutive birdies on the par-5 11th and 12th and the 14th to break Mukesh Kumar’s course record of six-under 66, which was established last year. "It was just the kind of start I was hoping for," Mundy said after the round. "The key to my round was that I hit the ball pretty close. My putting was pretty inconsistent and I missed at least four from within five feet. But that’s my game. If I can drop all these putts, I am up there."

Gangjee, the winner of the HT ProGolf Lucknow earlier this season in his rookie year, shot a bogey-free 67 that was laced with three birdies. Despite the early morning cold, Gangjee used his red hot Scotty Cameron putter to good effect sinking 10-feet birdies on the 10th and 12th to be two-under at the turn. On the back nine, he picked up strokes on the second, third and seventh to finish the day at five-under.

"What makes me more happy is the fact that I did not make any silly mistakes. I have had rounds where I made more than five birdies, but this is perhaps only the second round of my career when I went bogey-free. It is a great start and I hope to keep it this way," said the 23-year-old, winner of Surya Nepal Masters amateur title last year.

CB Bhandari led the amateurs with a four-over 76. One stroke behind Bhandari were Raj Pradhan and Mani Rai of Dharan at 77.

Scores: 1. Uttam Singh Mundy - 65; 2. Rahil Gangjee - 67; 3. Feroz Ali, Sanjay Kumar - 68; 5. Mahmood Magbool - 69; 6. Naman Dawar, Harmeet Kahlon, Digvijay Singh, Shiv Prakash, Raju Ali - 70; 11. Rahul Ganapathy, Monish Bindra - 71; 13. Mukesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Praduman Guleria, Radhey Shyam Thapa -72; 17. Deepak Acharya, Sabin Sapkota - 75; 19. Purna Sharma - 76; 20. Umesh Nagarkoti - 77; 21. Deepak Thapa Magar -78; 22. Pashupati Sharma - 79.