Dhaka – A brilliant hat-trick by Tohura Khatun steered hosts Bangladesh to a flying start in the four-nation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Under-15 Women’s Championship routing Nepal by 6-0 goals at Bir Shrestha Shaheed Sepoy Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur on Sunday.Tohura fired the net in the 31st, 58th and 71st minutes to make the first hat-trick of the tournament on the opening day while forward Anuching Mogini found the net twice in the 13th and 45th minutes.The most valuable player of the match, Monnika Chakma, scored the remaining goal firing the net first in the 11th minute on the way to their comfortable victory on the artificial turf. However, this is the second hat-trick in any international age level event for Tohura as she had recorded another three-goal hat-trick in their 4-0 goal victory against India in the final of AFC U-14 Women’s Championship (zonal) in Tajikistan in 2016. Keeping control on the ball most of the time, Bangladesh dominated the first half by 4-0 margin before losing their rhythm a bit for a while after 70 minutes where Nepal got scope for making a couple of attacks. However, those went in vain before the hosts’ defending wall.Skipper Maria Manda and her fellows kept their promise playing a flawless game while head coach Golam Rabbani Choton was seen shouting during the match excitedly at the dugout as anyone could single out his voice from any corner of the stadium. Choton was directing his girls loudly saying.In a post-match press conference, the Bangladesh coach said, “Nepal tried their level best. Our girls continued to put pressure on them throughout the match. We had opportunity to score more goals, but [we] missed out all. However, we achieved our first target. We had the lacking of clean finishing.”Tohura echoed her coach, saying, “They (Nepal) also played well. We didn’t give them scope. They’re awarded off side more as we played attacking game.”Bangladesh will face Bhutan and India in their remaining matches of the league phase at the same venue on December 19 and 21 respectively, while Nepal will take on India and Bhutan on the same date and venue in their next matches to complete the league phase. Meanwhile, India started their campaign in the weeklong meet beating Bhutan by 3-0 goals in the tournament opener at the same venue.Indian midfielder Kritina Devi Thounaojam fired the net first in the very 4th minute of the match while forward Priyanka Devi Naorem doubled the margin in the 11th minute before defender Pratiksha Lakra extended the winning margin in the 19th minute.The 2nd half of the match ended in goalless with chase and counter-chase between the two sides.UNB news agency
