Shillong, Feb 11 (IANS) The Maldives ended their campaign in women’s football competitions of the 12th South Asian Games with a 2-1 win against Sri Lanka at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
The Maldivians secured fourth place in the competition with Nepal at the top of the table with seven points followed by Bangladesh with six points. India are third with five points followed by the Maldives with four.
The Maldives women’s team started off their campaign with a goalless draw against India and lost their next two matches against Nepal and Bangladesh.
The Sri Lankan side have so far lost in all the encounters with Bangladesh, India and the Maldives.
However, Maldives coach Naoko Kawamoto was contended with the team overall performance in the Games.
“We knew that we are going to face strong teams like India and Nepal. Nonetheless, we are happy with our performance especially with a goalless draw against the defending champions India and we were not beaten badly by Nepal and Bangladesh,” Kawamoto told IANS.
Playing their last match of the competition, the Maldivians were aggressive from the very start of the match with its skipper Fadhuwa Zahir found the net in the 6th minute through a free-kick.
The Islander’s could have equalised it in the 25th minute through skipper I. Liyanage but the forward’s strike deflected off a Maldivian defender.
However, the Maldivians went 2-0 up a minute before the end of the first half through a penalty kick after Fadhuwa was brought down inside the box by Lankan defender R. Gunawardana.
The Maldives skipper who took the penalty shot easily, and doubled the lead in the first half of the match.
Sri Lanka finally got a goal in the added time of the stipulated 90 minutes when Dilrangi long range free kick bounced over the Maldives’ goal keeper Aminath Leeza.
Sri Lanka will clash against Nepal in their last group match on February 13.
The Nepal girls have booked their place in the final of the Games women’s football event after holding defending champions India 0-0 earlier on Thursday.