KATHMANDU, APRIL 26

Amit Tamang earned a penalty and scored from the spot in injury time as Chitwan Football Club played a 1-1 draw with Lalitpur City Football Club in the Khukri Nepal Super League here at the Dasharath Stadium today.

At a time when the match was heading towards its end with Lalitpur 1-0 ahead, Chitwan earned a penalty in the second minute of the injury time and Tamang did no mistake in burying the ball into the goal to share points. Tamang earned the spot kick after Binod Gurung handled the ball inside the penalty box while trying to block his shot inside the danger zone.

Earlier, Lalitpur had taken the lead in the 49th minute through Kamal Shrestha, who found the back of the nets with a powerful strike from 25 yards out. Lalitpur had earned a penalty in the 21st minute after Goran Jarkovic brought down Neeraj Basnet inside the box and Anjan Bista stepped up to kick the shot. But Chitwan goalkeeper Bishal Sunar blocked Bista's shot and he recovered on time to deny Bimal Rana in rebound.

Chitwan came close to opening the scores in the 35th minute but skipper Bharat Khawas saw his powerful shot from the edge of the penalty box sailing over the bar following a pass from Goran Jarkoic.

At the other end, Chitwan custodian Sunar made a timely dive to save Bimal Rana's header in the 40th minute.

Sunar made another double save in the 54th minute when he denied Bimal Rana on both occasions, while he also punched out Anjan Bista's attempt in the 68th minute.

Chitwan goalie Sunar was adjudged the man of the match, while Binod Gurung of Lalitpur was named the emerging player. Chitwan coach Meghraj KC was happy to walk away with a point from the first match but pointed out the areas to improve for upcoming matches. 'It's always nice to get points in the first match and we were able to level the scores in the dying moments,' said KC. 'The players had lack of coordination as they are yet to gel up with each others. We hope to put up an improved shows as the tournament progresses,' he added.

On Tuesday, Dhangadhi Football Club will take on Kathmandu RayZrs. A total of seven teams are taking part in the first-ever franchise-based football tournament organised by Nepal Sports and Event Management Pvt Ltd under the sponsorship of Khukri.

The winners of the tournament will be richer by Rs 3.5 million, while the runners-up will get Rs 1.5m. The best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward and emerging player of the tournament will get Rs 100,000 each, while man-ofthe-match in each game will receive Rs 25,000. The emerging footballer will be awarded with Rs 10,000 in each match.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 27, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.