Sports
Police crowned champions in sudden death
Nepal Police Club overcame defending champions Tribhuvan Army Club in sudden death penalty shootout to claim the Mechinagar Gold Cup football tournament title in Jhapa on Saturday.Parbat Portel
Nepal Police Club overcame defending champions Tribhuvan Army Club in sudden death penalty shootout to claim the Mechinagar Gold Cup football tournament title in Jhapa on Saturday.
The match was decided from the penalty spot after regulation period finished in a goalless deadlock and the tiebreaker ended 3-0. While Bikash Tamang of Army fired above bar in the sudden death, Police’s Man Bahadur Pariyar’s was lucky to see his strike cross the goal-line as the ball smashed the woodwork before deflecting on goalie Bikesh Kuthu’s body to roll back across the goal line.
The victory over Army came as a sweet revenge for NPC who were defeated 1-0 by TAC in the recently held eighth National Games men’s football final in Nepalgunj. The win also fetched NPC a cash purse of Rs 1001,000 and TAC walked away with Rs 501,100.
In the tiebreaker, Police players Suman Lama, skipper Bharat Shah and Rejin Subba converted from the spot while Ajit Bhandari and Ashish Gurung were denied by TAC goalie Kuthu. Army penalty takers Deep Kumar Lama, Tek Bahadur Budathoki and Santosh Tamang scored from the spot as forwards duo Nawayug Shrestha shot above bar and George Prince Karki was caught by goalie Roshan Khadka. The shot stopper Khadka was declared the-man-of-the-match and got reward of Rs 11,000.
Angel Gurung from hosts Kakadvitta Football Training Centre was declared the emerging player of the tournament while Police goalie Satrudhan Chaudhary was named best goalkeeper. His teammate Ashish Gurung won best defender award and Ananta Raj Thapa of same team was declared best coach. Army’s Sesehang Angdambe won best midfielder and Shrestha was the best forward. Each of them got Rs 21,000. Police forward Rabi Paswan was named best player of the tournament and bagged purse of Rs 101,000. The tournament that kicked off on April 25 featured eight teams in the knockout format.