Bangladesh Women win SAFF U-16 Championship

Penalty heroics from Yearzan see BD beat India

FE Team | Published: March 10, 2024 23:25:10

Bangladesh emerged champions in the four-nation SAFF U-16 Women's Championship 2024 beating their giant neighbor India by 3-2 goals in tie breaker at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, near Kathmandu, Nepal on Sunday, reports UNB.
The final match between two arch- rivals was locked in 1-1 goals in the stipulated period.
With the day' s feat, it was again proved that Nepal is the happy hunting ground for Bangladesh in the regional football meet.
Bangladesh national men' s football team clinched their first ever SAFF Games football crown in Nepal in 1999, Bangladesh national women' s team also clinched the SAFF Women's Football title in Nepal in 2022, apart from winning the regional title of the AFC U-14 Championship title, in Nepal in 2015.
In the day's final, Bangladesh played an aimless and hopeless game from the very beginning of the match with a series of wrong passes and went down in the race in the early minutes.
Taking the advantage, India took lead in the very 4th minute of the match as their forward Anushka Kumari fired the Bangladesh net by an angular shot from danger zone (1-0).
Later, she was adjudged the highest scorer of the tournament scoring six goals.
However, Mariam Binte Hanna eveled the margin for Bangladesh in the 70th minute to lead the match towards tie breaker.
In the tie breaker, Bangladesh custodian Yearzan Begum displayed her brilliance under the bar to guide Bangladesh towards victory, foiling three Indian spot kicks, out of five.
Later, she was adjudged the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Sauravi Akhand Prity of Bangladesh was named as the best player of the tournament.
Earlier, Bangladesh smartly reached the final with an all win record securing nine points from straight three matches, beating hosts Nepal 2-0, outplaying India 3-1 and crushed Bhutan by 6-0 goals in the league basis matches.
On the other hand, India made a final berth securing six points from three matches, beating Bhutan 7-0, ouplayed hosts Nepal 10-0 after conceding 1-3 goals defeat against league leader Bangladesh.