A brilliant hattrick by striker Sagorika guided defending champions Bangladesh to make a flying start in the four-nation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) U-20 Women’s Championship 2025 crushing Sri Lanka by 9-1 goals in the opening match at the Bashundhara Kings Arena Friday afternoon
Favorite Bangladesh clearly dominated the first by 3-0 goals in a comparatively water soaked ground.
In the day's opener, Sagorika made the first hattrick of the tournament scoring three goals, Munki Akter struck twice while Sapna Rani, Rupa Akhter, Shikha Akhter and Shanti Mardi scored one each for Bangladesh
Sri Lankan team scored a consolation goal in the added time of the match.
Sapna Rani put Bangladesh ahead in the very 2nd minute (2-0), Munki Akhter doubled the Bangladesh margin in the 5th minute while Sagorika scored the 3rd goal in the 37th minute to lead the first half by 3-0 goals.
Munki Akter scored her 2nd and team's 4th goal in the 48th minute, Sinha Jahan Shikha scored the 5th goal in the 50th minute , Sagorika scored her 2nd and the Bangladesh 6th goal in the 53rd minute.
Sagorika completed the first hattrick of the tournament scoring her 3rd and team's 7th goal in the 58th minute, Ripa Akter scored the 8th goal in the 86th minute and Shanti Mardi sealed the fate of the match in the added time (90+4) of the match In the day's other opening day's fixture, Nepal will encounter Bhutan at 7 pm local time at the same venue.
Four South Asian nations –Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh-- are taking part in the 11-day meet on double league basis, organised by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) under the auspices of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).
Afeida Khondakar, who captained Bangladesh Women’s team to qualify for the first-ever final round berth of the AFC Women’s Asia Cup recently, also leading the Bangladesh team in the ensuing SAFF U-20 Women’s championship and made a flying start in the opener.
In the other double league basis matches, Bangladesh will play Nepal on July 13, Bhutan on July 15, again Bhutan on July 17, Sri Lanka on July 19 and Nepal on July 21.
After the league basis matches, top team will be the champions
Bangladesh and India emerged joint champions in the last version of the meet in Dhaka in 2024 after playing 1-1 draw in the schedule time and 11-11 goals draw in penalty shootout in the final. But, India did not compete this time as they withdrew their team in last moment.
Source: UNB