Nepal Police Club (NPC) stunned Three Star Club 1-0 in the extra time to claim the 16th Aaha-Rara Gold Cup title for record five times in Pokhara on Saturday. 

Substitute Ram Wajee scored the winner in the first half stoppage time of additional 20 minutes as the match seemingly headed towards tiebreaker. The regulation 90-minute ended on a 0-0 draw. 

The win takes NPC level with Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC), who the departmental team have defeated 3-1 in the quarter-final on Tuesday, for winning maximum number of titles. The four time champions Three Star, fresh from their Itahari Gold Cup title, were beaten for the first time in the final of the tournament. NPC’s title haul doesn’t include the first Caravan Gold Cup which was later named Aaha-Rara. NPC had won the title in the first, sixth, seventh and eighth editions. Three Star won the fifth, ninth, 11th and 13th editions. 

Wajee, the 83rd minute replacement of Avishek Rijal, scored the winner with a volley at the far post from the zone. The-man-of-the-match was set by Nir Kumar Rai who back-passed the ball collecting a poor clearance from African player Ajayi Martins. NPC could have taken the lead moments earlier when Rai’s scorcher thwarted at the bar.

Three Star, studded with Nepali international players and two foreign recruits, failed to break the NPC defence despite creating numerous chances. The Lalitpur-based outfit got as many as 15 corners but they failed to utilise them. They saw their equaliser chance fade away in the dying moments before goalie Alan Neupane, leaving the post unguarded, had his header sailed inches wide off target. 

Three Star coach Meghraj KC said his side failed to capitalise on scoring chances. “We failed to convert nearly half a dozen chances while the opponents scored from one of the two chances they created,” rued KC adding that his side was also exhausted after competing continuously in multiple tournaments. 

KC’s counterpart Thapa of NPC said that his side fulfilled the responsibilities assigned to them. En-route to the final, Police had overcome Jhapa XI, MMC and Dharan. 

The win in the final made NPC richer by Rs 701,000 and runners up Three Star took Rs 351,000. Rabi Paswan of the winning team was declared the best player of the tournament and won himself a scooter. His teammate Suman Lama and Three Star’s Bishwas Shrestha were joint highest scorers with three goals. Shrestha was also adjudged the best forward of the tournament. They shared Rs 25,000 between them. 

Police coach Thapa won best coach award while Ajit Bhandari (defender) and Satrughan Chaudhary (goalkeeper) were other individual winners. Sunil Bal of Three Star was named best midfielder and Farwest XI took fair play team honour. All of them were rewarded with Rs 15,000 each.