GUWAHATI, Feb 16: After more than two decades, the men's football team of Nepal clinched gold medal during the 12th South Asian Games in a fiery encounter against host India in Guwahati on Monday.
The U-23 team of Nepal staged a heroic comeback in second half as it came from a goal deficit to beat India 2-1. Winger Prakash Budathoki and Nawayug Shrestha netted one goal each for the visitors to silence the noisy home supporters at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.
It is the second football title for Nepal within a month. Earlier, the national football team had won Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Monday's victory came after 23 years. The last time Nepal had earned gold was in 1993 SAG in Dhaka, Bangladesh. During the occasion, Nepal had defeated India 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the regulation time. Since then, Nepal had made it to the final of SAG only in 1999 SAG in Kathmandu. However, Nepal lost the match 1-0 against Bangladesh. Nepal's first SAG gold dates back to 1984 in which Nepal defeated Bangladesh 4-2 in the final.
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Photo:PJ Club
Nepal's coach Raju Kaji Shakya credited the win to proper planning. He said the players were told to mark Jerry Mawihmingthanga and Kumam Udanta Singh. "They are good players and we knew that once they are kept under close watch we could finish the match in our favor. And the players executed the plan perfectly," he said.
On Monday, India piled up early pressure and netted from the spot after Aditya Chaudhary fouled Udanta inside the danger zone and Halicharan Narzary converted the resulting penalty.
Photo:PJ Club
However, the early stage of second half was fairly balanced and Nepal established its dominance by ball possession and scoring in the later stage. Prakash, the 41st minute replacement of Man Bahadur Tamang, cancelled India's lead in the 67th minute. Prakash unleashed a rocketing freekick from 25 yards leaving Indian goalkeeper clueless after Anjan was brought down by an India player inside the zone.
Photo:PJ Club
India's coach Lee Alan Johnson lauded Nepal's equalizer as a 'world-class' freekick. "It was a world class free-kick. No keeper in the world could have stopped that," the British national said after seeing his side go down against Nepal.
Nawayug doubled the advantage for Nepal seven minutes later to put the home team under immense pressure. With his second goal, Nawayug also netted his seventh goal in SAG to join Ganesh Thapa as the highest scorer for Nepal in the Games.
Photo Courtesy: @OCSAG2016
Photo Courtesy: @OCSAG2016
Photo Courtesy: @OCSAG2016
Chairman of Nepal Olympic Committee Jeevan Ram Shrestha and Chairman of Nepal Sports Council Keshav Bista enjoying the game.Photo Courtesy: @OCSAG2016
