Kathmandu, April 16

The Martyrs Memorial A Division League match between Nepal APF Football Club and Sankata Club got delayed by half an hour at the Chyasal Stadium today, thanks to the negligence from the All Nepal Football Association and match commissioner Rup Chandra Bista.

Both the teams were at the stadium on time and they warmed up for the match as usual. The officials collected the list of players for the match and everyone was ready for the kick off.

But the match could not start after Sankata goalkeeper Tikendra Thapa came out with the yellow and blue jersey that matched with the APF team colour.

As a home team, Sankata players donned red jersey, while APF wore blue. But the problem arrived after Sankata goalkeeper Thapa's jersey colour collided with APF players' jerseys and officials were not able to blow the whistle.

After repeated requests from ANFA officials present at the stadium, Thapa agreed to wear a white polo t-shirt and the match got underway.

Interestingly, no one from ANFA, match commissioner Bista and team managers of both teams checked the jersey colour before the match.

It was not all over though. APF officials protested the use of torn socks by Sankata players in the break and the second half could not start on time. APF did not allow referees to resume the match as one of their officials remained at the grounds. Somehow the match resumed after a delay of another 10 minutes.

The ill-fated match took another ugly turn in the 69th minute when players from both teams were involved in a scuffle.

Sankata's Manish Dangi and APF's Dipesh Dhimal were expelled for manhandling after they pushed each other, while Sankata's Andre Thierry Biyik Biyik got two yellow cards for using foul language towards referees in the 76th minute.

Sankata recorded a 1-0 victory for their fourth victory in the league and moved up to fourth with 15 points, while APF remained at the ninth place with 11 points.

Junior Onguene Nkengue scored the solitary goal of the match in the first half and that was enough for Sankata to earn full three points. Nkengue scored from the spot in the 29th minute after Adama Dumbia brought down Ayush Ghalan in the danger zone.

In another match, Royal Blue Satdobato Youth Club and Nepal Police Club played a goalless draw at the Dasharath Stadium. Both the teams created a couple of scoring chances but they were not able to find the back of the nets.

Satdobato missed the chance to regain top spot and remained at the second position, behind leaders Jawalakhel Youth Club on head-tohead results after they were tied on 17 points. NPC moved one place up to 13th with five points pushing Friends Club to the bottom.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.