Syuchatar into 2nd round

LALITPUR, Dec 27 (PR)– Syuchatar and Dhapakhel VDCs advanced to the second round of Pushpa Lal Memorial Inter-VDC football tournament following their win over Bhimdhunga and Gokarneshwor VDC respectively in the matches held Thursday at ANFA Complex Satdobato.

In what turned out to be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament, Syuchatar overcame the tough challenge of Bhimdhunga 4-3. Taking quick charge of the match, they went 3-0 up in the first session through goals from Sunil Khadka (18th minute), Jayaram Khadka (21) and Raju Mali (23). Bhimdhunga managed to pull one back through Balram Thapa in the 31st minute to reduce the difference down to 3-1 going into the half time.

Bhimdhunga, playing attractive football in the second session, found the opposition net in the 53rd minute to narrow the deficit further down to 3-2. The goal came off the foot of Krishna Shrestha.

Mali doubled his tally scoring the team’s fourth to put Syuchatar 4-2 up. In the 77th minute Balram Thapa scored his second of the match to put Bhimdhunga as close as 4-3 but Syuchatar, with their dogged defense, made sure it remained that way till the final whistle.

Likewise, the second match between Dhapakhel and Gokarneshwor was also a nail-biting affair before the former eventually won 3-2 in extra time. Anil Shrestha scored twice, each in either session for Dhapakhel while Gokarneshwor came up with similar response through Chet Narayan Shrestha to level the score at 2-2.

Rajkumar KC struck the decisive blow for Dhapakhel, scoring a golden goal nine minutes into the first session of the extra time.

Tinthana VDC and Kapan play the opening match on Friday followed by the one between Machhegaon and Balkot VDC.

Dharan oust Kurseong to meet MPC in final

By Purushottam Kattel

DHARAN, Dec 27 – The minnows Dharan-11 Red will face off the mighty Mahendra Police Club (MPC) in the final of the 4th Budha Subba Cup invitational football tournament as they came from behind to post a 2-1 win against the visiting United Kurseong FC of Darjeeling on Thursday.

The second semifinal failed to get off to a start as the partisan capacity crowd had expected. First, the kick off was delayed owing to some technical difficulties. And to add fuel to their fury, the home team conceded an early goal through their own player.

In the 11th minute, Dharan’s Bishal Subedi, in his desperate attempt to intercept Kurseong player Dinkar Chhetri’s cross to a perfectly placed William Pradhan, failed to control the ball, which took a wicked deflection off his foot only to end up into his own net.

Kurseong, despite taking the lead, never looked comfortable as Dharan, with the whole stadium behind them, put relentless pressure with their well-organised moves.

The visitors succumbed to the pressure in the 33rd minute when Shashi Thapamagar brought the much-needed equaliser through a powerful right footer to subside the angry crowd.

Thapamagar, taking the ball into his stride, dribbled past a couple of Kurseong defenders and rolled it over to the left corner of the post. For a brief moment, it looked as if the ball was sailing outside the left bar but it kissed the bar and fortunately went inside the net, beating the outstretched Kurseong goalie Ravid Lakhandri to go 1-1 at half time.

The change of ends saw both the teams taking chances to outwit one another. But the local team, who seldom let the visitors off the hook, emerged victorious at the end of the day.

Milan Shrestha sealed the fate of Kurseong when he scored Dharan team’s second in the 53rd minute. The second goal was identical to the first one that came off a counter-attack. Dharan skipper Suraj Khaling found unmarked Shrestha with a long well-measured volley on the run. And Shrestha dozing past two opposition defenders, finished off leaving the ‘keeper standstill giving Dharan a decisive 2-1 lead.

Kurseong’s futile effort to stage comeback was attributed to their feeble shots as well as for the well-knitted Dharan defense.

"We played our natural game," said Kurseong coach Suraj Pradhan after the match. "My boys did very well against the local team. The only difference is that we failed to convert the chances while they were right on target."

But he had grievances over Nepali referees’ officiating in the match, terming them far from impartial. "I have a long experience of playing in Nepal," he went on, "the crowd is wonderful, but sadly, every time I have come across poor referring."

Referee Madhu Sudan Khanal denied a strong plea for spot-kick from the visitors when Dharan’s Deepak Limbu seemed to have handled the ball inside their 18-yard territory.

On the other hand, Dharan coach Narayan Bohara looked content with his team’s performance. But he intends to keep it a low profile. "We haven’t won the tournament yet," he said, "and to lift the title we should perform better than today."

He further added: "We came at the field today, keeping in mind that the opponents are poor. But we are taking on a renowned team on Saturday’s final, so we have to be more cautious."

Dharan complete 195-run win

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 27 – Buoyed by Manoj Sood’s allround performance, Dharan Cricket Club (DCC) entered the semi-finals of the 3rd East West BDM Open cricket tournament crushing Kathmandu Khel Mandal (KKM) by 195 runs on Thursday.

Sood played a scintillating innings of 102 runs in 72 balls smashing 10 fours and 3 sixes. Sood, along with Rockey Maskey (53), put up a second wicket partnership of 108 runs after Dharan lost the wicket of Kiran Aggrawal (15) with total at just 21.

He also fostered a 74-run third wicket partnership with Ratan Rauniyar (19) to help his team post a huge total of 227 for six in allotted 35 overs.

Sood also excelled with the cherry taking three wickets as KKM began the run chase. However, Kiran Aggrawal, after failing with the bat, stole the show with his bowling performance as he wrecked the KKM innings with a six-wicket haul. Aggrawal took six for 13 in his four-over spell. Sood’s figure stood at three for 16 in 3.3 overs.

No third bowler was required as the opening duo of Aggrawal and Sood wrapped up the KKM innings in 7.3 overs for 32 runs. Had it not been for the 16 extras, KKM innings would have probably been much less. Although Aggrawal had six victims to his name, his bowling line was far from perfect as he conceded eight wides while Sood bowled six of them.

The batting card of KKM made a sorry sight as the highest scoring batsman had mere four runs to his credit. Suraj Basnet and Dhiraj Gyawali were the joint highest scorers from KKM, each of them lasting under ten deliveries at the crease. None of the batsmen were able to stay at the wicket for more than nine balls. Three of the batsmen went back to the pavilion without disturbing the scorers.

Manoj Sood was declared man of the match for his efforts with the bat and the ball.

Rana brings home silver

KATHMANDU, Dec 27 (PR) – Saroj Bahadur Rana clinched silver medal in heavyweight category at the All India Full-contact Open Kyokushin Karate Championship held on December 22 and 23 in Ranigunj, West Bengal, Nepal Academy of Kyokushin Karate (NAKK) said in a press release issued here Thursday.

Another Nepali karateka Dhana Bahadur Thapa came fourth in middleweight category in the two-day event that featured over 200 players from 12 Indian states and Nepal.

Rana, who was forced to compete in the heavier weight category than the pre-determined weights along with his fellow Nepali participants, lost to Raghunath Yadav in a tough battle in the final. Rana, who weighs 60kg, put off the challenge of Kerala’s Ravi Chandranan, weighing 90kg. Before that he had registered impressive wins against Bihar’s Karan Kumar in the first round, followed by Santosh Kumar Mishra of West Bengal (second round), Prasant Kumar Thakur of Central Region (quarterfinals).

Dhana Bahadur Thapa, who had a bye in the opening round, was equally impressive in the middleweight division. He had little trouble getting better off Ram Pratap Yadav of West Bengal in the second round, Hemanta Kumar Gupta, also from West Bengal (pre-quarters).

However, he had to pull out of competition after Siddharaj of Tamilnadu, against the tournament rules, unleashed a kick at his sensitive area during the quarterfinals. The Tamilnadu player was disqualified allowing Thapa to emerge as the winner of the bout. Thapa, considered as one of the best players in the tournament, had to settle for the fourth place because of the injury.

Among other Nepali players, Subash Subedi reached the second round before losing out to West Bengal’s Surjeet Mondal in middleweight category while in the heavyweight class, Roshan Kapali fell to Ragunath Yadav of Central Region and Prem Bahadur Lo lost to Sagar Kumar Singh of West Bengal.