A brace each from Navayug Shrestha and Tek Bahadur Budhathoki helped Nepal Army finish first in the league round featuring three teams. Nepal Army will now lock horns in Wednesday’s final with Indian Army team, which had already qualified for the final with a 2-0 win over Sri Lanka on Sunday. [break]
Nepal Army made a bright start in the game, dominating possession early on, but had to wait until an hour for a breakthrough in an entertaining match.
Until then, Nepal Army controlled passes and made lots of futile attempts on goal while Sri Lanka looked threatening in counter attacks as its players utilized few of their chances effectively.
Sri Lanka would have scored the first goal had not Nepal Army’s goalkeeper Bikash Malla come to the rescue to foil RDS Gunasinghe’s shot in a one-versus-one situation in the 30th minute.
Malla and Raju Tamang, who were in the national team for the AFC Challenge Cup, were released for the Army’s match after reaching a “mutual understanding” with the ANFA officials, according to a high ranking army official.
Earlier, CH Silva had a good opportunity to score but he shot wide in the 22nd minute with only goalie Malla to beat.
Nepal Army then missed a good chance to take the lead in the 42nd minute as substitute Bal Krishna Shrestha shot wide after Sri Lankan keeper WGNK Sirisena dropped the ball.
Finally, Navayug Shrestha scored the first goal in the 61st minute as Sirisena moved ahead to catch the ball in vain, leaving the post unattended. DGH Widunanga equalized for Sri Lanka ten minutes later capitalizing on the failure of Nepal Army defenders to clear the ball inside the box.
Shrestha scored the second goal in the 79th minute after receiving a pass from the midfield.
Two minutes later, Santosh Nepali combined with Amrit Basnet to cut through the Sri Lankan defense to supply the ball to Budhathoki, who hit an unstoppable volley into the top left corner.
Budhathoki then chipped in the ball, which hit the bar and deflected in as it evaded the Sri Lankan defense and the goalkeeper, to seal the match two minutes from time.
Meanwhile, Lasigtha M Karunathilak of Sri Lanka clinched gold in men’s singles badminton defeating captain Prajwal Jung Rana of Nepal Army.
In the league matches of volleyball held at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre at the Rajdal Batallion, India defeated Pakistan 3-1 while Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in three straight sets.
Nepal Army’s Devendra Khatri entered the final of men’s U-60 kg category in boxing after defeating Mollah Md Foyfal of Bangladesh. He will face Bikash Khatri of Indian Army in the final to be held on Tuesday. Players of India and Pakistan secured the final berths in all other weight categories.
Related story
APF, Army to vie for gold in men's football
