Church Boys United and New Road Team (NRT) are competing for the title of the Jhapa Cup football tournament organized by Jhapa 11 at the Domalal Rajvanshi Stadium in Birtamod on Monday.
The encounter between A Division League champions Church Boys and sixth-placed NRT is the second after the Elam Gold Cup. NRT beat Church Boys 3-0 in the Eelam Gold Cup final. NRT looks set to repeat that victory.
The Church Boys plan to avenge Elam's defeat. Church Boys coach Suman Shrestha said, 'We will take revenge for the loss in Elam.'
NRT coach Jeevan Sinkeman said that his team is balanced and strong and victory is certain. He said, "Our confidence has become stronger after defeating the Church Boys in Elam." NRT reached the last four after stopping Chitlang Football Club and securing a place in the finals by defeating Itahari's Rashtriya Jagriti in a tiebreaker.
In the 6th Jhapa Gold Cup held in February last year, Church Boys stopped NRT in the first round bye. Church Boys dominated the Martyrs Memorial A Division League. In the sixth round of the league, the match between Church Boys and NRT ended in a 2-2 draw. Later, Church Boys defeated NRT by 4-1. Anant Tamang is the only league player in Church Boys, while Anjan Bisht, the goal scorer at that time, is currently affiliated with NRT.
Church boys are the Lalitpure team that won the 'B' division and became the 'A' division champion, while NRT, which has a history of 91 years, has won the top league five times.
The winner of the Jhapa Cup will get a cash 10 lakh and the runner-up will get Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, the best player of the tournament will get 1 lakh.
10 teams from Nepal and India will participate in this tournament, the highest scorer, the best goalkeeper and emerging players will each get 35,000 cash prizes.
