Lalitpur, November 5

Defending champions Nepal APF Club and Central Region advanced to the semi-finals of the CoAS fourth International Women’s Football Tournament at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre today.

APF hammered Western Region 15-0, while Central thrashed Far-western Region 7-0. Sabitra Bhandari scored 10 goals alone for APF, while Saru Limbu and Rekha Paudel netted two each and Anjali Yonjan got one for the departmental team. Bhandari opened the scoring in the sixth minute and completed her hat-trick with goals in the ninth and 12th minutes.

Bhandari netted six goals in the first half adding goals in the 20th, 26th and 29th minutes. She added four more in the latter half scoring in the 51st, 53rd, 68th and 79th minutes to become the first player to score 10 goals in any form of the game. Limbu scored in the 33rd and 72nd minutes, while Paudel found the back of the nets in the 57th and 69th minutes. Yonjan scored in the 49th minute of the match. The defending champions slammed home seven goals in the first half and added eight more in the latter half against hapless Western Region.

In another match, Rashmi Kumari Ghising and Manisha Raut of Central Region completed their hat-tricks, while Anju Lopchan netted one against Far-western Region. Ghising opened the scoring in the seventh minute and completed her treble with goals in the 37th and 63rd minutes. Raut netted her all three goals in the second half, scoring in the 47th, 52nd and 68th minutes to complete her hat-trick. Lopchan found the back of the nets in the 80th minute.

On Sunday, team from Bihar will take on Nepal Police Club, while Sikkim will face hosts Tribhuvan Army Club. The Indian sides had a first-round bye, while NPC and TAC made it to the quarter-finals with wins over Mid-western Region and Eastern Region respectively in the opening day matches on Friday.

A total of 10 teams are taking part in the tournament organised by the Nepali Army.