Nepal thrashed Sri Lanka 8–0 on Wednesday in their second match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, with captain Sabitra Bhandari—widely known as Samba—scoring a brilliant hat-trick to continue her team’s dominant run in Group F.
The win, played at the Milliy Stadium in Tashkent, follows Nepal’s 9–0 demolition of Laos in their opener, taking them to the top of the table with six points from two matches. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, exit the tournament early after back-to-back defeats.
Geeta Rana opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a header from a corner delivered by Anita Basnet. Bhandari doubled the lead in the 20th minute and went on to complete her hat-trick with goals in the 42nd and stoppage time of the first half.
Nepal kept up the pressure after the break. Rana converted a penalty in the 54th minute for her second goal. Nisha Thokar made it 6–0 with a header, before substitutes Rekha Paudel and Puja Rana added two more goals in the 78th and 89th minutes respectively.
Sri Lanka managed only a single weak attempt throughout the match and failed to create any significant chances.
With this win, Nepal are now in pole position to qualify for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. However, their final group-stage fixture against hosts Uzbekistan on July 5 is expected to be decisive.
If Uzbekistan defeat Laos later today as expected, both teams will enter the final game level on points, making it a winner-takes-all encounter. If the match ends in a draw, standard tiebreakers such as goal difference, total goals scored, and fair play points will be used to decide who qualifies.
Nayak Paudel covers sports for The Kathmandu Post. He previously worked at the Post (2018–19) and spent over five years at The Rising Nepal. His reporting spans crime, health, education, and social issues.
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