Dharamsala beats Kathmandu
Dharamsala (Tibet.Net), 6 June 2003: “We are now out of the tournament.” said Sither Tsering the captain of Mundgod. With the Gyalyum Chenmo tournament already past its halfway, the point tally shows few teams already stepping out of the tournament. Sither Tsering admitted his team’s bad luck after losing to Delhi yesterday. ‘ We are a young team and the lack of experience put us in disadvantage,’ he said with a dejected note. They are probably the only team with almost half the players aged below 19.
In the first match, Dharamsala comprehensively thrashed Kathmandu. It was clearly a one-sided game through out, with Dharamsala rising like a phoenix from their past debacle against Pokhara in their previous match on Tuesday.
At half time, Dharamsala had a comfortable lead of 4-0. In the second half, the team scored six more goals. Kathmandu’s centre forward managed their first goal only at about the end of the game.
Later on, the ecstatic Dharamsala team rejoiced over their victory. “We knew we were going to win after the second goal,” gushed Ngawang Yeshi, Team’s captain and goalkeeper. Though, he confessed that they were in a ‘tight spot’ and that it was a ‘do-or-die game’. When asked how they would prepare for the forthcoming matches, he said,’ We will have to work more on our defence, otherwise we will keep the same strategy and try to win’. The team standings reveal that Dharamsala’s winning has now bagged them a place in the semi finals.
The second match was between Delhi and Mundgod. The crowd having already witnessed a spectacle of a sort with the Dharamsala’s performance, they expected nothing less.
The crowd had to wait for 34 minutes to get the first goal from Delhi’s striker Tenzin Choegyal. It was a misjudgement on the part of the Mundgod goal keeper. The ball apparently did not fall firmly in the goal keeper’s hands, and just slipped for the striker to kick it into the net. Mundgod showed some beautiful co-ordination soon after and managed to retain the same position until the half time.
Five minutes into the second half and Delhi’s striker Tenzin Choegyal dashed ahead with the ball, displayed some lovely footwork, weaving his way through two defenders and scoring his second goal.
The pressure began to mount on the Mundgod players.
In the 75th minute, Mundgod’s centre forward received a long pass from the left corner and scored their first goal. With the score now 2-1, the Mundgod supporters saw some hope and began to cheer louder. However, the expectations were laid to rest within few seconds with Delhi’s left wing netting the third goal.
Two goals were scored in quick succession in the dying minutes of the game from both sides. The game ended with Delhi maintaining a comfortable 4-2 lead.
Today, Doon Valley will play against Gangtok and Bylakuppe will face Pokhara.
The organisers feel the tournament has been successful so far. “We are happy to say that all the parties concerned have co-operated fully and the tournament is going on as planned,” said the executive secretary of the Tibetan National Sports Association, Mr. Kalsang Dhondup.