Kolkata: Crowd violence in Sunday’s semi-final between India and Nepal within the South Asian Soccer Federation’s (SAFF) girls’s competitors will likely be taken up by the All India Soccer Federation (AIFF). India misplaced the match that was stopped for over 70 minutes within the tie-breaker after having taken led from open play.
India performed Nepal on Sunday. (AIFF)
“The All India Football Federation has taken note of the incidents that happened during the SAFF Women’s Championship 2024 semi-final in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Sunday, October 27, 2024. The AIFF will write to SAFF regarding the incidents and will take it up at the appropriate platform. The India U19 women’s team faced an almost similar situation in a SAFF tournament in the recent past (in Bangladesh last February), and the AIFF feels such things are not good for the development of football in the region,” in line with an AIFF assertion on Monday.
“For the All India Football Federation, the safety of the women players and staff is always of utmost importance. It is proud of the way the Senior Women’s National Team players, support staff, and officials displayed remarkable restraint and conducted themselves on the pitch under tiring circumstances in Kathmandu. The team came out with their heads high,” the assertion stated.
The match, on the Dasharath Rangashala, was interrupted by stoppages, the primary of which got here when Nepal’s Rekha Poudel was despatched off following a second reserving. Nepal protested Bhutan referee Om Choki’s resolution and the group was backed by an indignant crowd who started throwing missiles forcing an assistant-referee to depart her line.
The match resumed after 12 minutes and India took the lead within the 62nd minute via Sangita Basfore’s long-ranger. Because the gamers gathered on the dugout to celebrated, Nepal, apparently as a result of Choki had blown the whistle to restart, put the ball into an empty web. The purpose was disallowed and chaos broke out.
As bottles – a few of them full of urine, a member of the Indian contingent advised HT over the telephone from Kathmandu on Monday – flew from the group, Nepal left the pitch and India stayed. It took over one hour for play to renew. It’s not recognized why the employees comprising former internationals Pinky Magar, Tababi Devi and coach Santosh Kashyap didn’t get the group to depart the pitch. It’s also not recognized if anybody in AIFF requested them to.
Sabitra Bhandari equalised quickly after the restart. The group main is at an obstacle in such conditions, Kashyap stated on the post-match press convention. Within the audio clip of his press convention shared by AIFF, a person’s voice was heard saying in Hindi that Nepalese get carried away whereas supporting their group and throw bottles. Laughter adopted.
Nepal transformed all their pictures beating India’s substitute goalie, the debutant Payal Basude who changed Panthoi Chanu in 90+3 minutes. Manisha and Karishma Shorvoikar scored for India, skipper Ashalata Devi and Ranjana Chanu missed.