Kathmandu, December 30

Nepal defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in the third and final Group A match of the fourth Women’s SAFF Championship at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, India on Friday.

At a time when the match was heading towards a goalless draw, Sri Lanka’s RDLR Gunawardana directed the ball towards her own goalpost on a corner kick from Nepal’s Sapana Lama in the 87th minute.

With the victory, Nepal finished as group winners with maximum nine points to seal the semi-final berth. Nepal had defeated Bhutan 8-0 in the opening match on Monday before hammering the Maldives 9-0 on Wednesday with SabitraBhandari scoring five goals each in two matches.

Nepal coach Kumar Thapa lauded his Sri Lankan counterpart RatnamMuhamedJusmin’s successful tactics in stopping his players from playing freely. “The opposition’s coach came with his tactics and he was successful. Credits to him for stopping us but we got the result we came for, just not the way we hoped for,” Thapa told the official website of ANFA. Jusmin said he was satisfied with his team’s performance.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives have three points each in Group A, while Bhutan are yet to open their accounts.

Hosts India and Bangladesh have already advanced to the semi-finals from Group B and the two teams will fight on Saturday to decide the group winners.

Nepal will face the Group B runners-up in the first semi-final match of the tournament on Monday.