JHAPA, May 4: Damak XI has advanced into the quarterfinals of the first Damak Gold Cup football tournament with a 4-3 tiebreaker win over Rupandehi XI on Thursday.
The tightly-contested match was pushed into the tiebreaker as both the teams played a 1-1 draw in the regulation time.
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In the tiebreaker, Rupandehi goalkeeper Sojit Gurung’s shot hit the crossbar, while Ajit Thapa’s spot kick was saved by Damak goalkeeper Bikash Majhi. Palsang Tamang, Ramesh Rajbanshi, Sanjay Dhimal and Prabin Rai scored for Damak, while Bikram Limbu’s shot sailed over the crossbar. Anish Gurung, Umesh Thapa and Bhishan Gurung scored for the losing team. Earlier, Damak played attacking football from the first and took the lead through Limbu in the 27th minute as he snatched the ball of two Rupandehi defenders and beat goalkeeper Gurung to make it 1-0. The ball had gone in hitting the second pole. Rupandehi equalized late into the game in the 81st minute through Nitin Thapa.
Both the teams got a series of good chances throughout the game to score, but missed many. Rupadehi’s goal scorer Thapa’s shot in the 15th minute was punched away by Damak goalkeeper Majhi, while Damak defenders played a good defensive game to deny the losing team in the 17th minute.
Majhi was named the man-of-the-match and was rewarded with Rs 11,000.
The quarterfinal matches will start from Friday. The departmental team Armed Police Force will take on Madan Bhandari Sports Academy in the first last eight match. Madan Bhandari advanced into the quarters beating Jhapa XI 4-0 on Wednesday, while Armed Police got a direct entry to the last eight.
A total of 10 teams are taking part in the tournament which will conclude on May 11.
