Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 4:

Three Star Club of Nepal and Tai Power Company of Chinese Taipei played a 1-1 draw in the inaugural match of the AFC President’s Cup Football Tournament here at Dasharath Stadium.

Crown Prince Paras, who is also the patron of National Sports Council, inaugurated the tournament.

Tai Power Company took an unexpected lead in the 38th minute, when midfielder Chen Chi-Feng scored from close range beating Three Star goalkeeper Upendra Man Singh following Tu Chu-Hsien cross, silencing 5,000 home fans .

Three Star midfielder Pradeep Maharjan scored an equaliser two minutes later. Fed by Santosh Shahukhala, Maharjan fired home a left-footer from the edge of the penalty area.

Three Star should have won the match, had their strikers not muffed up the opportunities they got in the match they throughly dominated. Three Star Club played the last 10 minutes, including three minutes of injury time, with 10 men after Thai referee Kunsata Chaiwat sent off Pralay Rajbhandari for tackling Chiang Shih-Lu of Tai Power Company. Tai Power Company defender Yang Tzyy-Lon was taken to hospital after colliding with Bal Gopal Maharjan.

“We dominated the match, but the forwards failed to capitalise on the chances,” said Three Star coach Dhruba KC at the post-match conference. “I cannot say my boys’ played badly,” he added. On the other hand, Tai Power Company coach Chen Kuei-Jen was not satisfied with his players’ performance. “The rain affected our play,” he added.

Earlier, in the opening ceremony, students from various schools performed dances representing all the five development regions.

In the other match of Pool A held at Armed Police ground in Halchowk, Muhidinov Dzhomikhon scored a hat-trick as Regar TadAZg of Tajikistan thrashed Transport United of Bhutan 6-1.

Regar TadAZ took an early eighth-minute lead through Rakhimov Nizom who fired

the ball from eight yards in a solo effort.

In the 36th minute, Dzhomikhon made it 2-0 dodging Khandu Sangay of Bhutan inside the D-Box. A minute later Dzhomikhon put his team 3-0 ahead. And, in the 55th minute, Dzhomikhon completed his hat trick when he fired the ball beating Transport goalkeeper Singe Jigmo.

For the Bhutanese team, the only goal came through Dendup Nawang in the 67th minute when he netted the ball from 25 yards.

In the 86th minute, Tabarov Rustam of Regar TadAZ converted the spot kick which

his team earned after Pema of Bhutan brought down Turdiev Akhliddin inside

the D-Box. Makhmudov Khurshed of TadAZ completed the rout in the dying moments of the match.

On Thursday, Dordoi Dynamo of Kyrgyztan will take on Hello United of Cambodia at APF Stadium and WAPDA of Pakistan will play against Blue Star Sports Club of Sri Lanka at Dasharath Stadium in Pool B matches.