SAFF U-18 Championships: 7-star India look to keep foot on gas

PTI

Jamshedpur, March 16

On a high after thrashing Nepal 7-0, the Indian women’s football team will look to continue their strong form in the upcoming matches as they chase their first title in the SAFF U-18 Championships.

India made a flying start to the tournament on Tuesday with Lynda Kom scoring a brace in the 17th and 35th minutes at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.

However, Kom is not willing to bask in the glory of the performance for long and wants to focus on Saturday’s game against Bangladesh, who had beaten India 1-0 in the 2021 final in Dhaka to lift the trophy.

Bangladesh won both the earlier editions of the Championships, in 2018 and 2021.

“It was a great result but the job is not done yet. We want to have another good performance in our next match against Bangladesh and continue the same going ahead,” said Kom. “I was really happy that I could help the team by scoring two goals, but I want to continue that form and score many more as well.”

Captain Shilky Devi was happy with the team’s athleticism and stated that the after-effects of the win had rubbed off on everyone.

“The energy in the team is brilliant. When you’re 3-0 up at halftime, it’s very easy to ease up and just try to play out the match,” Devi said.

Head coach Thomas Dennerby said he was impressed as well. “We had a lot of good plays in the match. It does a lot to help the morale of the players for the upcoming matches,” Dennerby said. “I was very impressed with some of the goals.” —