ANFA honors youth teams with cash prizes

KATHMANDU, Sept 28: The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on Monday felicitated members of the U-19 and U-16 football teams. Member of the U-19 team were rewarded with cash prize of Rs 200,000 and U-16 with Rs 50,000.

The U-19 team was rewarded for claiming the title of the First SAFF U-19 Championship at home turf last month by beating India in the final. The felicitation comes two days before the team leaves for Iran to compete in the AFC U-19 Qualifiers Championship. Earlier, the Ministry of Youth and Sports had felicitated the team with a purse of Rs 100,000 each.Similarly, the U-16 team qualified for the finals of the AFC U-16 Championship to be held in India next year after finishing runner-up in the Qualifiers held in Kyrgyzstan from October 16-20.

ANFA honored all 23 players of the U-19 team, three coaches and a physiotherapist with Rs 200,000. The team manager was honored with a gift hamper amidst a program at ANFA's office in Satdobato, Lalitpur.

Similarly, 23 players, two coaches and a team doctor of the U-16 team were felicitated with Rs 50,000, while manager and media official were honored with gift hampers.

ANFA President Ganesh Thapa and other officials of the football governing body handed over the cash prizes and gift hampers.

Meanwhile, ANFA President Thapa said that the outcome achieved by the youth teams has made the association proud. "The football team cannot leave impression if it does not produce results. The efforts of players, coaches and ANFA were reflected through the outcome of the youth teams," said Thapa, adding that the result of the youths was a proof that Nepali football was not in poor condition.

Meanwhile, Latika Shrestha, a resident of Pokhara, gave away Rs 50,000 to the youth team. She handed over the amount to Dhirendra Pradhan, the general secretary of ANFA.

In the SAFF U-19 Championship, Nepal had defeated Bhutan 3-1 and Bangladesh 2-1 in the group stage. Similarly, Nepal overcame Afghanistan 3-2 in the semifinal and got the better of India 5-4 during tiebreaker in final following a 1-1 draw in the regulation time.

Meanwhile, the U-16 team qualified as the best runner-up from its group in the AFC U-16 Championship finals after it beat Jordan 2-1 and came from two goals deficit to beat Kyrgzstan 4-2 before losing 3-1 to Oman.

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