Today, Dang and Bardia are competing for the title of the state level football tournament organized by the Lumbini State Sports Council.
Dang and Bardia came close to the title by registering a victory in the semi-final match that ended on Friday. Thirandaj Gautam, Member Secretary of Lumbini Province Sports Council, informed that the final match will be held at the Lumbini Football Academy ground in Ghorahi-17 Garagaon after 3 pm today.
Dang defeated Banke by 4-1 in the first semi-final held at the Lumbini Football Academy ground in Garagaon on Friday morning and entered the final. Similarly, Bardia beat Palpa 5-2 in the second semi-final held at Tulsipur's Belzhundi Stadium in the afternoon and qualified for the finals.
In the second semi-final match at Beljhundi Stadium, Bardia scored 3 goals in the first half and scored 2 more goals in the second half. Palpa only scored 1 goal in the first half and 1 goal in the second half. Palpa's Ankit Marsangi took the lead within 5 minutes of the first half, but Bardia then aggressively opened the game and turned the result in their favor.
Pariyar scored a goal in 28 minutes of the first half for Bardia. Soon after, Chetan Tharu added another goal in 31 minutes to make it 2-1. In the 36th minute, Chetan himself scored another attractive goal.
In the 15th minute of the second half of the game, when Rajan Kathayat of Bardia scored a goal, Sunil Ale Magar scored another goal in the injury time and Bardia's number of goals reached 5. On the other hand, Palpa's Sudeep Thapa scored another goal in the 38th minute of the second half. Bardia's Chetan Tharu, who played a role in winning the semi-final match with 2 goals, was the player of the match.
In the first semi-final match in Ghorahi, Vishal KC scored 1 goal to bring Dang closer to the title, while Hari Budha and Vivek Rasaili scored 1 each. In 11 minutes of the first half, Vishal KC took the lead against Banke. In the 28th minute, Hari Budha scored another goal and doubled the lead to 2-0.
Dang scored two more goals in the second half. Vishal KC added another goal in the 16th minute of the second half and Vivek Rasaili added another goal for Dang in the 24th minute. In the 25th minute of the game, Banke's Abhishesh Budha scored the consolation goal. Vishal KC who scored two goals for Dang was the player of the match.
Member Secretary of Lumbini Province Sports Council Gautam said that the games of the competition in which 7 districts of Lumbini are participating were divided into two groups. According to him, Dang, Pyuthan, Banke and Kapilvastu are in group A, while Bardia, Rolpa and Palpa districts are in group B. Gautam said that the competition was organized to identify the development of football in the province and the ability of the players in the district.
