KATHMANDU: Green Lance Academy beat Kuleshwor Secondary Boarding School 2-1 in the inaugural match of the Central Region qualifier match of the Coca-Cola Nationwide Inter-school Football Tournament here at the Dasharath Stadium on Thursday.

Revon Shrestha scored two goals for the winners, while Sanjeev Tamang pulled back a consolation goal

for Kuleshwor. In all, 224 schools are participating in the tournament.

Earlier, the participating teams took part in the one-and-half-hour-long march pass before the inauguration ceremony. Secretary at the Youth and Sports Ministry Shyam Prasad Mainali inaugurated the event.

The first round matches of the tournament is being held at six different venues — Nepalgunj, Pokhara, Butwal, Biratnagar, Kathmandu and Dhangadi.

Around 500 schools are taking part in the tournament. The top 12 teams — four from Kathmandu,

three from Biratnagar, two from Pokhara and one each from Nepalgunj, Butwal and Dhangadi — will qualify for the final round of the tournament to be held in Kathmandu.

The dates are yet to be confirmed for the league-cum-knock out final round.

The 12 teams will be divided into four groups and top team from all the pools will make it to the semi-finals, said Dhirendra Pradhan, Joint Secretary of the ANFA in a release.

The winners will receive Rs 200,000, while the runners up will earn Rs 100,000. The third and fourth-placed teams will also get Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.

Talented players of the tournament will also get a chance to be selected in the training camps for the upcoming AFC Under-16 and U-19 Championships qualifiers to be held in Kathmandu in October.