Kathmandu, March 24:

Parbat Pandey scored the winner as Mahendra Police Club defeated Dream Team 2-1 in a friendly match here at the Dasharath Stadium today.

Ramesh Budhathoki put the national league champions ahead in the first half, while Santosh Sahukhala levelled th scores minutes into the second half. Parbat Pandey scored a rare goal late in the match to ensure the MPC’s victory. The winners received Rs 15,000 while the Dream Team got Rs 10,000.

The match was organised by Nepal Republic Sports Federation (NRSF) as part of its first National Republic Sports Festival, which was inaugurated by Maoist chairman Prachanda at the Dasharath Stadium.

NRSF earlier feted the South Asian Games gold medallists, Asian Games medallists and Olympics participants with letters of felicitation. Prachanda presented the players with letters of felicitation.

The five-day festival includes competitions in five events — Karate, Taekwondo, Kick Boxing, Volleyball and Athletics. Before watching the football for some time, Prachanda along with top Maoist leaders including Baburam Bhattarai, Hisila Yami and Ananta, also enjoyed a bout each of Karate, Taekwondo and Kick Boxing and the men’s 5,000m race. The Volleyball tournament started at the National Sports Council’s Covered Hall.

In the men’s 5,000 metre race, Narendra Pratap Bhatta emerged victorious with the timings of 16 minutes 19.10 seconds, while Laxman Malla of Bagmati (16:24.20) and Bhumi Raj Rai of Mechi (16:36.30) came second and third respectively.

In the women’s 3,000m held at the half time of the football match, Hari Devi Rajlawat of Bagmati came first in 11 minutes 55.84 seconds, ahead of Bina Bhandari of Bheri (12:11.56) and Rupa Bhatta of Narayani (13:09.96). Apart from the medals and certificates, the top three winners in both the categories received Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 respectively.