Bala Devi’s Brace Helps India Win Third Successive Gold At SAG

The Indian Women’s football team successfully defended their South Asian Games title in Pokhara, Nepal with a 2-0 triumph over the hosts in the summit clash. This is India’s third gold medal on the trot at the South Asian Games.

India was led to victory by Bala Devi who scored a brace and led India from the front against host Nepal whom the visitors had earlier defeated in the final game of the league stage too. Bala Devi, who recently had participated in a week-long trial at Rangers WFC in Glasgow, Scotland, also ended as the top-scorer of the tournament, netting six goals in four matches.

The Maymol Rocky girls started the final match as the more attacking side of the two. The team’s domination over the hosts was led by Sangita Basfore and Ratanbala Devi in the mid field. Ratanbala had a chance to put India in the lead after she received a cross from Ranjana Chanu. However, Ratanbala missed the opportunity as her shot zoomed over the bar.

In the 18th minute India keeper Aditi Chauhan, who has had a memorable tournament and maintained a clean sheet in the competition, assisted Bala with a long ball up field. Bala made no mistake to register her name on the score sheet and put India in the lead.

The teams went into half time with the score reading 1-0 in India’s favour.

The Indian team continued their domination even in the second half. Head coach also made a clever change as she replaced Sandhiya with Manisha and the move almost paid dividends immediately.

Indian eves were fended off well by the Nepalese defense at the start of the second half, but they could not keep the Indian’s at bay for a very long time. In the 55th minute Ratanbala converted an intricate move into a chance. She played a through ball to Bala who did justice with the pass and found the back of the net for the second time to seal victory for India.

The Indian team never allowed the hosts to make a comeback in the rest of the match and clinched their third -straight gold medal. Nepal settled for a silver medal and the Maldives received Bronze in 2019 SAG wome’s Football.