Kathmandu.
Nepal has made a winning start in the SAFF U-20 Championship. In the opening match on Monday, Nepal started the competition by defeating Maldives by 4-0. This is a historic victory of Nepal. Nepal made history by winning 4-0 in the first ever U-20 Championship.
Earlier this tournament was organized in U-18 and U-19 formats. Dipesh Gurung, Sugam Suwal, Kritisharatna Chunju and Sumit Shrestha scored one goal each in Nepal’s win against Maldives at the Kalinga ground in Bhubaneswar, India. Dipesh managed to score the first goal for Nepal in the 41st minute.
Deepesh scored a beautiful goal from almost 25 yards on the rebound after the ball that came from Captain Ayush Ghalan’s free-kick was punched by the goalkeeper of Maldives. Sugam scored the second goal for Nepal. He surprised the opposing defenders and scored from the penalty box in the 58th minute.
Sugam has been playing club level football in Denmark. He came to Nepal to play the SAFF championship only a while ago. Nepal scored the third goal against Maldives through penalty. Kritisharat Chunju managed to score a penalty. He scored in the 62nd minute.
Nepal got a penalty after captain Ayush Ghalan was fouled in the penalty box by a Maldivian player. Nepal succeeded in making the right use of the penalty. Sumit Shrestha scored the fourth goal for Nepal towards the end of the game. Nepal will now compete against Sri Lanka on July 11.
Nepal is scheduled to face host India on July 15. Nepal will play the last match of the round robin against Bangladesh on July 17. After the round robin of 5 participating teams, the top 2 teams will play the final.
