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| Kathmandu, Sunday December 29, 2002 Paush 14, 2059. |
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Nepal
trounce India to lift title
By Purushottam
Kattel
KATHMANDU, Dec 28 :
Nepal claimed the AFC Under-14 Football Festival title after accumulating 13 points from
five league matches played at the Dashrath Stadium. Nepal beat India 3-0 on today’s
crucial league match, to clinch the champions trophy pushing India to second place by a
point.
Nirajan Khadka, Shishir
Adhikari and Yubic Shrestha were the goal scorers for Nepal, all of which were scored in
the first half.
India, which needed
just a draw to bag the title, were totally baffled by the improved Nepali performance, in
front of an over 12,000 strong home crowd. "The huge crowd and the grand ceremony
affected the performance of our boys, who are not used to playing in this condition,"
said Indian coach Jahar Das to The Sunday Post.
Nepal made a promising
start as right-winger Nirajan Khadka headed home an early 1-0 lead in the second minute of
the match. Khadka, who was used as a substitute player in all the four previous matches
Nepal played, demonstrated brilliant skills to outwit the Indian goalkeeper Krishna Das,
after Bishal Shrestha supplied a well executed cross from the left flank.
"Our boys played
superbly in the first half but failed to maintain the tempo in the second half because of
poor diet," said Nepal’s South Korean coach Yoo Kee Heung after the match.
"If they had kept
up the first half tempo, the victory margin would have doubled. The wonderful crowd at the
stadium also proved to be a motivating factor for them today," he added.
Nepal doubled the lead
in the 11th minute, thanks to Suraj Kharbuja, who brilliantly dragged a Sandip Rai free
kick to the centre, leaving it open for Shishir Adhikari, Nepal’s most successful
striker of the championship, to make the score 2-0.
Nepal went on attacking
India as Khadka created several perfect crosses from the right and Kharbuja from the left
flank. Adhikari failed twice, while Shrestha also stumbled two times, before Nepal almost
confirmed their win a minute before half-time.
Full back Sandip Rai
again was the provider. Indian goalie Das, who faced a terrible time under the bar,
fumbled while collecting Rai’s powerful shot and an agile Shrestha did not make any
mistake in converting the chance, putting Nepal on the driver’s seat before the
break.
The Indian team played
a more attacking game after the lemon break, but all their efforts were thwarted as Nepali
defender Rai, Durga Lawat and Santosh Gurung showed outstanding skills, to keep them at
bay.
Nepali goalkeeper
Sandeep Shrestha effected a couple of saves in the second half, to deprive India of any
outside chance to come back in the match.
Earlier, Bangladesh
demolished Bhutan 13-0 to claim the third position with a tally of 10 points. Zahid
Hossain fired six goals while Mithun Chaudhary posted a hat-trick. Hossain’s six
goals came in the second half in the 32nd, 33rd, 35th, 44th, 48th and 51st minutes.
Sri Lanka’s misery
continued in the championship after Maldives handed them a 6-0 drubbing in the first match
of the last day. Maldives were placed fourth, while Sri Lanka earned the dubious
distinction of failing to score a single goal in the tournament.
Crown Prince Paras Bir
Bikram Shah Dev, who is also the patron of Nepal Olympic Committee, gave away the shield,
medals and certificates to the winners and all the participants. Six SAARC countries
participated in the 10-day tournament.
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