Bangladesh won the AFC U-14 Girls’ Regional Championship title for the south and central zone, edging home favourites and defending champions Nepal 1-0 here at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre in Lagankhel.

In the 70-minute game, Marzia scored the only goal of the game in the 16th minute to hand Bangladesh their  first silverware in the competition. Her shot from edge of the area beat Nepal goalkeeper  Rabita Kumari. Nepal coach Kishor KC praised his goalkeeper’s overall performance but said that a minor mistake cost them the game.

“She (Kumari) should have got hold of the ball but instead let it slip past her into the net,” said KC. “Our girls’ took pressure after conceding the goal and could not come up with their usual fair.” KC sees bright future in women’s football if the current crops of junior players are taken care of properly. “But if we rely on just training just before a tournament, it will bear no fruit in future,” added KC. The Nepali  team had been training for the event for the last three weeks.

“Our girls were excellent against one of the best teams in the tournament,” said Bangladesh coach Golam Robbani Choton. “We should have won by even bigger a margin had not our skipper (Krishna Rani) missed 3-4 easy scoring opportunities.”

The final was originally scheduled for April 25 at the Dashrath Stadium but had to be stopped due to the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on the day which killed over 8,500 people. Dashrath Stadium has not hosted any competitive game since then. On their way to final, Nepal had won all three league games before seeing off India 1-0 in semi-finals. Bangladesh, meanwhile, had defeated Iran 2-0 in their last four clash.

Nepal to play Bangabandhu Cup

KATHMANDU: Nepal confirmed their participation in the fourth Bangabandhu Gold Cup International football tournament slated for January 8-18 next year. The eight-team tournament will be held in Dhaka and Sylhet simultaneously. Hosts Bangladesh will field two teams, the senior national team and the U-23 team. Senior national and age-group teams from Maldives, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malaysia and Bahrain will also participate in the event. Anfa acting president Narendra Shrestha said the tournament will serve as a perfect preparation for the 12th South Asian Games scheduled for February 6-16 in Guwahati and Shillong, India.