Football
Sabitra Bhandari and Anita Basnet each struck a brace as Nepal made a blistering start to the sixth SAFF Women's Championship with a 4-0 victory over Bhutan at Kathmandu’s Dashrath Stadium on Tuesday.
With this feat, Bhandari has taken her tally against Bhutan in the SAFF Championship to 10 goals and 40 overall in the national colour.
The opening victory has put Nepal on top of the Group B table with three points. They next play Sri Lanka on September 12.
On a rainy evening, both teams struggled to play their natural game. Bhutan made an early inroad into Nepali territory, but wasted a chance in the third minute.
The home side gradually found their footing in the wet conditions and started building pressure on the Bhutanese defence.
In the ninth minute, Bhandari failed to put enough power on her shot from outside the box. Two minutes later, Bhutan had another reprieve when Hira Kumari Bhujel's powerful shot from 25 yards went out after hitting the upright.
But Bhutan ran out of luck in the 12th minute as Bhandari gave Nepal a 1-0 lead. Taking advantage of Bhutan goalkeeper Sabita Monger’s poor clearance of a flag kick, Amisha Karki put Bhandari in with a clear pass and the Nepali star forward made no mistake.
As Nepal dominated the proceedings, they went close to doubling the score in the 32nd minute. Bhandari intercepted Bhutan’s keeper Monger’s throwball but her shot was cleared by a defender. Moments later, Bhandari’s header off Anita Basnet cross went over the bar.
Bhutan showed some urgency and had a good chance to narrow the gap in the 35th minute. After some quick exchange of passes in the middle, Bhutan skipper Pema Choden Tshiring was in a brilliant position with the ball inside the six-yard box. But the opportunity was missed as she was late on her shot.
Nepal could have gone 2-0 up at halftime when Bhandari picked out midfielder Deepa Shahi with a neat pass in the 47th minute. But Shahi's shot was wide.
The hosts resumed from where they had left off and dominated possession. Rekha Kumari Paudel, who replaced Karki at halftime, was denied in the 56th minute and Anita Basnet shot wide in the 64th minute.
However, the Bhutanese defence crumbled under sustained pressure from the hosts. In the 68th minute, Bhandari netted her and Nepal's second goal beating Monger from a one-on-one situation after Poudel put her through with a clever pass.
In the 73rd minute, Basnet scored an excellent goal to extend Nepal’s lead to 3-0. After weaving her way past a couple of defenders, she buried the shot into the back of the net.
In the 85th minute, Basnet scored her second of the evening to seal a comfortable 4-0 victory for Nepal. The Bhutanese keeper punched a cross from Anita KC but the ball went only as far to Basnet and the midfielder calmly put it away.
The competition continues on Wednesday with two Group A matches at Dashrath Stadium. The first match between defending champions India and Pakistan will take place at 1pm. The second featuring Bangladesh and Maldives will start at 5:30pm.
