By a Staff Reporter
Host India starts its SAFF U20 Championship campaign with a defeat against Bangladesh. Bangladesh defeated India 2-1 in the Kalinga Stadium at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
Following a second win in a row, Bangladesh climbed to the top of the competition points table. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in its first match. Nepal will face Sri Lanka in the next match to be played today. Meanwhile, Nepal defeated Maldives 4-0 in its first outing.
MD Piash Ahmmed Nova scored a brace to give Bangladesh an important victory over India whereas Gurkirat Singh scored a consolar for India. Nova scored the first goal of the match in the 29th minute. Singh then headed the ball home in the 35th minute to bring India back to the game. In the injury time of first half (45+1), Nova converted the penalty and Bangladesh went into the break with the lead.
With a win, Bangladesh moved atop to the competition points table with 6 points. Nepal stands second with 3 points. India, Sri Lanka and Maldives are yet to bag any points. After the completion of the round robin, the top two teams will face each other in the finals.
The championship, which was previously held under the name of SAFF U19 and SAFF U18, is now being held under the name of SAFF U20 Championship. Nepal had won the first two editions while India had won the latest edition.
Nepal’s Fixtures:
Nepal VS Sri Lanka: July 27, 2022
Nepal VS India: July 31, 2022
Nepal VS Bangladesh: August 2, 2022
Final: August 5 , 2022
