Star striker Sabitra Bhandari scored a brace in Group ‘A’ match as Nepal wrapped up the second round of Women’s Asian Qualifier for 2020 Olympics campaign with 2-1 victory over Indonesia in Mandalay, Vietnam, on Tuesday.  

With Nepal and Indonesia already eliminated after two successive defeats in the four-team group, both the teams were looking for the consolation win going into last match. Nepal had numerical advantage against Indonesia after goalkeeper Riska Julianti was sent off in the eighth minute. Bhandari opened scoring in the 36th and went into break with a goal lead.

But Indonesia restored parity two minutes into restart with a goal from Baiq Amiatun Shalihah. As the match was seemingly moving towards a draw, Bhandari struck again one minute from time. Bhandari, who had failed to score in last two matches of the tournament, took her international goal-tally to 28 after the brace. She is only behind Anu Lama (35 goals) in the all-time highest scorers’ list.

In another match of the Group, hosts Myanmar and India played a 3-3 draw in a six-goal thriller. Win Theingi Tun netted all three goals for hosts Myanmar, who progressed to the next round as the group winners despite finishing equal on seven points with India by the virtue of better goal difference.

Nepal finished third behind India with three points while Indonesia were pointless.