The Sri Lanka Women’s Football Team were defeated 2-1 by Maldives in the Bronze medal match at the 13th South Asian Games 2019 in Pokhara, Nepal.
Sri Lanka dominate in loss, Medal hope under threat
The Sri Lanka Men’s U23 Football Team, unbeaten in 2 games in the South Asian..
It was sweet revenge for the Maldivian women, ranked 140th – two places below Sri Lanka, who previously lost to Sri Lanka 2-0 at the SAFF Women’s Championship earlier in the year.
Maldives were leading 2-0 but Sri Lanka came back by scoring late in the second half through Chalani Ekanayake. Maldives managed to hold on against the Lankans to win a historic Bronze Medal.
Sri Lank Women’s team have been preparing for the South Asian Games 2019 for a good period of 2 years with many friendly tours to Bahrain, Indonesia and Qatar. The squad has been in residential training in highlands as well, acclimatizing to the conditions in Nepal, making the loss even more disappointing.
India vs Sri Lanka
In a one sided affair India women completely outplayed their Sri Lankan counterparts and went on to win by 6-0. The score was 4-0 at half time.
From the kick off it was one-way traffic as the Indians dominated play and the Lankans were left to run around chasing the ball. The first goal came in the 7th minute when Ranjana Chanu sent in a cross and Dangmei Grace turned it into the net.
Minutes later Ratanbala Devi set up Sandhiya Ranganathan who blasted it into the net. It was the return of the favour in the 18th minute when Sandhiya turned provider as Ratanbala Devi scored the third goal for India.
Sandhiya got her second goal of the game when a Ratanbala Devi shot came off the bar and Grace laid it off to Sandhiya who obliged and slotted it into the net. Lankans did manage to hold off for the renaming 20 minutes before the breather as all 10 outfield players were on the defense.
The second half too was one way traffic, however the Lankans were much better organized in defense and got bodies behind the ball. Yohani Weerasinghe stood firm for Sri Lanka. The Indian attack couldn’t muster any more goals up until the 88th minute when Ratanbala Devi got her second goal of the match.
Ratanbala Devi scored in the stoppage time meeting a cross from Linthoingambi to make it 6-0 to the Indians.
Nepal vs Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka for much of the game were on the defence as hosts Nepal dominated play in the 90 minutes. Lankan goalkeeper Ayomi Wijerathna was the Player of the Match as she made several saves to keep the hosts at bay.
It looked like the Lankan Women would hold off for a scoreless draw as the Men on the previous day, but Saru Limbu broke Lankan hearts with the winning goal for the hosts in the 86th minute.
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