SAFF Women’s Football: Pakistan defeated by India

Kathmandu, Oct 17: India defeated Pakistan in the opening match of the SAFF Women’s Championship football tournament that began here today.

India defeated Pakistan by 5-2 goals in the match held at Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwar. Dangmei Grace scored a goal in the 5th minute of the game to give India the lead.

Likewise, Manisha Kalyan doubled India’s lead by adding a goal in the 17th minute of the game while Bala Devi scored in the 35th minute to make it 3-0. Grace scored her second goal in the 42nd minute of the match and made it 4-0 for India. In the extra time of the first half of the match, Suha Hirani of Pakistan scored a goal through a penalty.

Pakistan received a penalty after India’s Aslata Devi committed a foul on Nadia Khan. India led 4-1 until the first half of the game and scored one more goal in the second half. At the beginning of the second half of the match, Kayal Marie Siddiqui scored a goal to make it 4-2.

But in the 78th minute of the game, India added the fifth goal. India’s Jyoti Chauhan scored to give India a lead by 5-2, which remained the score until the end.

With the win, India has collected three points. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are in Group ‘A’ of the competition while Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives are in Group ‘B’.

The first match tomorrow will be played between Sri Lanka and the Maldives at 1:30 pm and the second match will be played between Nepal and Bhutan at 5:30 pm.