Sagarmatha Youth Club reached the semi-finals of the 15th edition of the Invitational Control Itahari Gold Cup football tournament by defeating the 'A' Division team NRT of Shahid Smarak League.

In the second quarter-final at Itahari Stadium on Sunday, Sagarmatha won a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Budhasubba Gold Cup champions NRT.

The foreign player Richard scored in the victory of Everest. Taking advantage of NRT's weak defense, he scored a goal in the sixth minute of the game. After trailing 1-0 in the first half, NRT had some chances in the second half but the defense line of Everest failed. NRT was forced to return home from the first match as they could not break the strong defense of captain Ashok Khawas, Kuldeep Karki and Vishal Darji.

Sagarmatha also could not increase the lead as they could not convert some of the opportunities they had in the second half into goals. Richard was the player of the match. He got 10 thousand rupees. Two-time champions Sagarmatha will compete against the winner of the quarter-final between Church Boys United and Dharan Football Club on Thursday.