Maiwakhola and Sirijanga Rural Municipality will face off in the inaugural match on Saturday.
What you should know
Maiwakhola and Sirijanga rural municipalities will face off on Saturday in the inaugural match of the Kanchenjunga Seselung Women's Gold Cup football tournament.
The competition organized on the occasion of Chasok Tangnam Festival 2082 is the first time that municipal-level women's football is being held with the highest prize money so far. The organizers claim that the competition will be attractive as there is a provision for a municipality to bring up to four outside players.
However, both municipalities that are going to play the inaugural match have claimed that they have not brought outside players for the first match and have selected and prepared good players from within the municipality. Chandra Tamang, who is also the coordinator of the Maiwakhola Rural Municipality Social Development Committee, claims that they will win the inaugural match as they are players who have prepared well from the grassroots. 'We have now prepared a team of players from within the municipality, who were trained by DK Maden (sports coach) for one and a half months,' said Chandra, 'I think we will lead Sirijanga.'
Dilli Gurung, who is leading the Sirijanga team, also claims that the players are only from within the municipality, but they will win the inaugural match. ‘There are players who have played in the village ground,’ said Dilli, ‘whenever they get the opportunity, they show their game and Maiwakhola wants to take the lead.’ Naming players like Sesema Bokhim, Manu Rai, Bharosa Lingden, and Samiksha Gurung, Dilli said, ‘We are in the mindset that the opening match will be won and further decisions will be made after looking at the performance and players of the remaining teams.’
Eight out of nine municipalities in the district are participating in the competition, which has a trophy and a prize money of Rs 202,000 for the winner and Rs 102,000 for the runner-up. According to sports coordinator Santosh Gurung, it has been found that the municipalities have searched for those who are playing in their municipal women’s departmental teams or other clubs and included them in the team. After entering the second phase, the municipalities are also in the mindset of bringing in players who have participated in the national-level competition. "Most of them will play the first round matches with those from their own municipality and after reaching the second round, they are preparing to bring good players according to the competition," said Kewal Maden, the sports co-coordinator.
The parapet made during the Lakhe Jatra for the spectators of this tournament to be held at the ground of Bhanujan Secondary School in the district headquarters of Phungling has been kept until now. For the first time, the organizers have arranged for entry by purchasing tickets for the women-only competition. The organizers said that the ticket price for the first quarter-final is one hundred rupees. This parapet can accommodate up to eight thousand spectators.
The president of Kanchenjunga Seselung Club, Ashok Kumar Thebe, informed that prizes of 5 thousand rupees will be given for the man of the match of each day, 10 thousand rupees for the best player of the tournament and 8 thousand rupees for other categories. The organizers are preparing to run the tournament from exactly 2 pm every day. On the second day of the competition, Pathibhara Yangwarak and Aathrai Triveni Rural Municipality will face each other on the 14th, Phungling Municipality and Phaktanglung Rural Municipality on the 15th, and Sidingwa and Meringden Rural Municipality will face each other in the final match of the first round on the 16th. Among the nine local levels, Mikwakhola Rural Municipality is not participating this year. The final of the competition, which is organized by Ngawarak Samjong Phungleng, Kanchanjunga Phungling Club and Chasok Tangnam, will be held on Mangsir 20. Last year, the competition was held on this occasion at the same ground with the participation of famous clubs of the country.
