Hosts in football fil after 11 years

SOUTH ASIAN GAMES

Our Bureau

GUWAHATI/ SHILLONG, Feb 13: India registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Bangladesh to breeze into the fil of the men's football in the South Asian Games (SAG) in Guwahati on Saturday. The win also ended the 11 years' drought for India who last time played in the fil in 2004 in the Islamabad Games.

Udanta Singh put the hosts into the lead in the 19th minute and Jerry Mawihmingthanga increased the margin five minutes before the lemon break with a nice strike from outside the box. Jayesh Rane scored the fil goal of the match in the 65th minute.

Besides the action in the ground, there was also drama outside. Bangladesh coach Gonzalo Moreno was sent to the stands for unsporting activities. Moreno was upset over a decision of the referee as he felt that his side was denied a genuine pelty in the second half. Although his first reaction was ignored by referee Laba Khatri (Nepal) but got the marching order later for repeating the dissent.

Bangladesh also lost one of their key players - Jamal Bhuyan (sr) - for the bronze deciding match as he was given the red card just after the end of the game for misbehaving with officials.

There are two players in the Indian team this time who have a local connection. Holicharan rzary hails from Assam, while Rehenesh, the goalkeeper of the team, is a regular in the North East United FC. Both displayed good brand of soccer today. Rehenesh was athletic below the bar, making a couple of spectacular saves.

For the first goal, it was Jerry who pressed Razaul Karim inside the 18-yard box, forcing a bit of indecision on part of the latter. Udanta, who was complementing Jerry, took advantage, side-stepped Topu Barman and pushed the ball into the net.

Jerry, who hails from Mizoram, once again got into the thick of action and unleashed a screamer from outside the box which dug deep into the right bottom corner. The stunning goal is bound to be remembered for long.

Jayesh put it beyond the reach of the rivals in the 65th minute, thumping one in from inside the box although Bangladesh was unhappy with the referee's decision as they felt that Jayesh was on the off side when he received the ball.

India's women team is also ensured a medal and they defeated Bangladesh 5-1 in Shillong today.

Meanwhile, Assam boxer Shiva Thapa stormed into the semi fils defeating Shrestha Dinesh 3-0 in 56kg category in Shillong today.

Earlier, India added two more golds in Triathalon events today. The men's squad comprising Dilip Kumar and Guru Datt bagged gold and silver medals respectively, while Sri Lankan Nuwan Kumara bagged the bronze medal. In women's section, Pallavi Retiwala and Pooja Chaurushi were declared first and second while Nepal's K C Roja collected bronze medal for her country.