Manang Marshangdi Club (MMC), Nepal emerged as the champion of the 38th All India Governor’s Gold Cup International Football Tournament 2018 at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok on Saturday. In the well contested final match played on Saturday afternoon, MMC has edged past another strong Army (Red) by a solitary goal.
Both teams took each other neck-on-neck with an attacking game throughout out the match. With equal possession of the ball, both teams maintained pressure on each other with constant attacks and counter attacks.
With misses of some good opportunities to net the goal, the first half ended goalless draw.
Again in the second half, both teams missed some good chances to take the lead in the match. The match was again looking to end goalless draw until the referee gave the penalty kick to MMC when Army defender roughly tackled Anjan Bista of MMC in the D-box area in the 80th minute of the match.
MMC striker, Sujal Shrestha converted this golden opportunity into the winning goal of the match. The referee decision was strongly protested by Army players.
In return, Army players played their hearts out to score the equalizer but could not able to stop MMC Nepal to lift the champion’s trophy with this 1-0 victory.
Sushil Shah of Army Red was adjudged as the Man of the Final Match.
The final match had the Governor Ganga Prasad as the chief guest and Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, R B Subba as the guest of honour.
The winning team was handed over with cash prize of Rs two lakhs along with trophy, while runners-up received the cash prize of Rs one lakh and trophy.
On the occasion, ten prominent footballers from Sikkim and neighbouring hills of yesteryears have been felicitated by Sikkim Football Association.
SFA has felicitated ex-footballers Nim Tshering Lepcha and Chamba Dhendup Bhutia from Kalimpong, Mahindra Subba and Suren Pakhrin from Darjeeling, Kushal Subba, Thakur Rai, Tashi Chopel Lepcha, Sonam Lepcha, Suresh Mukhia and Puspa (Chettri) Gurung from Sikkim.