Sports
Police prevail over Three Star for Pokhara Cup
Nepal Police Club (NPC) stunned Three Star Club 4-3 in tie-breaker to win the Manakaman Cable Car Pokhara Cup football tournament title on Saturday.Shiva Sharma
It was Three Star who took the lead in the game with a goal from Bikram Lama before Bhola Silwal brought the equaliser to push the game to 30-minute extra time. After both teams failed to break the deadlock, the match headed for tiebreaker where NPC kept their cool to walk away with the title.
Three Star, however, managed to avenge their loss by eliminating MMC in the semifinals. It was the first Pokhara Cup title for NPC.
With both teams locked at 3-3 after the first five shootouts, the match was pushed to sudden death where Three Star custodian Kiran Chemjong shot off the target. Ajit Bhandari then converted for NPC to ignite wild celebration in the camp. Nir Kumar Rai, Suman Subedi and Dipen Shrestha score in the tie-breaker for NPC with Silwal and Yogesh Shrestha wasting their chances.
Striker Santosh Sahukhala, Bikram Lama and Nirajan Khadka scored for Three Star with Jagjeet Shrestha and Bijay Gurung shooting off the target. Although both teams pressed hard for goal in the high-intensity game, the first half ended on a goalless draw.
Three Star went quickly ahead scoring three minutes after the resumption with Lama heading home a pass from Jagjeet Shrestha inside the area. NPC kept pressing for an equaliser and their hard work paid off through Silwal who was leading the team in absence of injured Jumanu Rai. Silwal headed a pass from Dipen Shrestha from six yards to leave Chemjong merely a spectator.
Along with the title, NPC walked away with a cash prize of Rs 355,000 and Three Star took home Rs 200,000. Silwal was later adjudged the man-of-the-series that won him a motorcycle. Ritesh Thapa (goalkeeper), Dipen Shrestha (defender) and Birat Krishna Shrestha (coach) were other NPC men to sweep individual awards.
Sahukhala (forward) of Three Star and Heman Gurung (midfielder) of APF Club were other winners. Each individual award winners received Rs 15,000 apiece. Meanwhile, Manakamana Cable Car Pvt Ltd Managing Director Rajesh Babu Shrestha announced to chip in Rs 200,000 for the treatment of ailing former footballer Mani Shah, who had led Nepal to a gold in the 1993 South Asian Games in Dhaka.




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