Kudos to Nawayug
The Kathmandu Post
Jan 22, 2016-
Kudos to Nawayug
Kudos to Nawayug Shrestha for striking a hat-trick to steer Nepal into the final of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup football game with a crushing 4-1 victory over Maldives played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday (‘Shrestha sends Nepal into final’, January 20, Page 11). The national team achieved this win to move into the final of an international football tournament after 17 years. Nepal had lost to Bangladesh by 1-0 in the final of the 1999 South Asian Football game. Bishal Rai also deserves appreciation for scoring the first international goal—proving himself to be a good scorer and leading his team to the final.
This victory, the first since 1999, also comes as a welcome relief to the Nepali football that has lately been embroiled in match-fixing and corruption allegations. The four national players, who were charged with such allegations, have been suspended by FIFA for their entire life. It was very unfortunate for them to be found involved in such activities that defamed Nepal as a whole. However, this recent victory over Maldives shows that there are other good players who can take Nepal to new heights in international tournaments.
For this, All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), with the government’s support, should put all its efforts in the all-round development of impartially selected players to motivate them so that they perform better in international games and make Nepal proud and well known in the other parts of the globe. We hope that ANFA will learn the lesson from the recent match-fixing scandal and put sincere effort to not let such incidents happen again.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj
