Shankhamul Futsal clinched the Anfa Futsal League championship with a 5-4 win over Kickoff Futsal in the final at Chaur Futsal, Bansbari, on Sunday.

Suraj Raut struck twice for Shankhamul while Abhay Rana, Anish Shrestha and Nirmal Gurung were also on the scoresheet. Suman Dangol replied for Kickoff with two goals.

Mani Lama and Rajin Pande also added one each for the losing side in the 40-minute match. Champions Shankhamul received Rs 500,000 and the runner up Kickoff walked away with Rs 250,000.

In the competitive final, Kickoff took 15th minute lead through Suman Dangol before Raut equaliser two minutes later. Shankhamul went into the break with a goal cushion after Rana scored for the champions in the 20th minute. Shankhamul netted twice in the very first minute after break.

Raut struck his second goal after Shrestha had scored the third goal for the eventual champions. Lama scored for Kickoff in the 23rd and Dangol netted in the 29th to reduce the margin. Gurung found the target for Shankhamul in the 36th before Pande netted the last goal for Kickoff in the 40th minute to finish the match 5-4.

Shankhamul also took three of five individual awards as Anish Shrestha was adjudged the best goalkeeper, Suraj Raut the best player and Prakash Pariyar the best coach. Binod Gurung of Samakhushi Futsal was declared the emerging player and Raj Shahi of Kickoff the best defender. Each of the individual award winners earned Rs 20,000.

The tournament also served as the selection of national players for the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship Qualifiers to be held in Iran on October 13-22. Altogether 25 players will be called for the first phase of training to start by this week. Nepal are drawn in Group ‘A’ of the Qualifiers along with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

The winners and runners-up from all eight groups will qualify for AFC Futsal Championship to be held on February 8-16 next year.