Govinda Chhetri

Jhapa, March 14:

Telegraph Association of Kolkata outplayed Mahendra Police Club (MPC) 2-1 and bagged the 16th Tribhuban Memorial Gold Cup Football Tournament here at Mechi Stadium today. The visitors were reduced to ten men in the first half after Manik Mandal was ejected and further reduced to nine after Telegraph skipper Aron I Cole was sent off for unsporting behaviour. The policemen, who were vying for the second title win, failed to capitalise on the chances they got during the match. They failed to score on 10 corner kicks. Earlier, Telegraph took the lead through skipper Aron I Cole, who converted in Manik Mandal’s corner kick in the 44th minute. For MPC, Ananta Thapa opened the scoring in the 51st minute through a header following Ganesh Budhathoki’s pass from the right flank. In the 79th minute, Telegraph skipper Cole scored the second goal of the match and his sixth of the tournament to claim the highest scorer’s award.

Cole’s second goal shattered Hari Khadka’s dream of being the highest scorer. Khadka, who had been scoring in every match of the tournament, had five goals to his credit. Later, Khadka was adjudged the man of the series and MPC’s Ramesh Budhathoki bagged the man of the match award. Telegraph skipper Cole was happy with the win. “I am satisfied with the result and the way my team played today.” On the other hand, Hari Khadka of MPC said, “The reason for our loss was the opportunities our team failed to utilise.” Crown Prince Paras gave away the trophy and medals to the winners and also handed out felicitation letters to the officials of Mechi Stadium Renovation Committee, former players of Jhapa and the sponsors of the event. Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali, member secretary of National Sports Council Kishor Bahadur Singh and other ANFA officials were present on the occasion.