KATHMANDU, June 26: Shree Bhagwati Club and Jhamsikhel Youth Club earned promotion to the second tier league finishing winner and runner-up in the Martyrs Memorial C Division Football League on Sunday. Both of the clubs won their respective matches of super league during the last day of tournament.
5th Jhamsikhel Street Festival set to take place on Saturday
Shree Bhagawati registered a 2-0 win over Manohara United Youth Club to become the champion while Jhamsikhel finished runner-up producing 3-1 win over Birgunj Youth Academy. The defeats of Manohara and Birgunj meant that their ambition for climbing into second division remained unfulfilled.
Sujit Buthathoki and Sunil Lama scored a goal each on the penultimate match of the tournament to secure title for Shree Bhagwati.
Sujit put Shree Bhagwati, Kathmandu’s Tokha-based football club, ahead in the 10th minute and Sunil doubled the advantage in the 88th minute to secure the victory.
Shree Bhagwati manager Manish Joshi said that his side was delighted with the victory and the result came after years of struggles. “We were in the C Division for more than six years and our collective efforts made it possible to get promotion to the B Division. Our players played with team spirit and we had the backing from everyone from Tokha,” said Joshi.
Manager Joshi also added that his side is aiming to get promotion into A Division by in the near future. “We want to do even better in the B Division and advance to the A Division. However, we need huge amount of money to shape our team and we are awaiting for the government to come up with new policy which could be helpful for team like ours,” he added.
Meanwhile, Laxman Thapa Magar scored a brace and Bikash Lama added a goal for Jhamsikhel. Jhamsikhel’s Sulav Thapa scored an own goal during the match.
Winner Shree Bhagwati collected seven points from three matches, while runner-up Jhamsikhel collected four points in the super league round. Similarly, Birgunj and Manohara gained three points each. The top four finishers received Rs 300,000, Rs 150,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.
Champion Shree Bhagwati’s coach Bikash Gauchan got the best coach award, while Sujit Budhathoki of the same team won the best midfielder award.
Likewise, Jayaram Chaudhary of Birgunj was the best goal-keeper, Sabin Khadka of Manohara best defender and Bikash Lama of Jhamsikhel won the best forward award. The winners of all individual awards were given Rs 15,000 each.
