7th Aaha Gold Cup: Jumanu’s hat-trick sinks Army NPC defend title

POKHARA, Jumanu Rai's hat-trick helped Nepal Police Club thrash Army Club 5-0 to defend the Aaha Gold Cup here on Saturday. Jumanu was on superb form at the Seventh Aaha Gold cup with five goals from three matches. Apart from the highest scorer he also bagged the best player award. He received a Yahama Alba bike as the best player and a cash prize of Rs. 15,000 for the highest scorer of the tournament.

Bhola Silwal and Chetan Adhikari added the other goals for police. Bhola opened the account in the 26th minute with a shot from the D-Box giving Army keeper no chance whatsoever to save the goal. Chetan scored the second goal in the 32nd minute. He got the ball past three Army defenders to extend the lead.

Jumanu opened his account in the 50th minute. He fired a shot form near the post form a through ball from Bhola. His second goal came in the 62nd minute form substitute Yogesh Shrestha's pass. Jumanu completed his hat-trick taking the ball form the centre all alone and giving the keeper no chance to save the goal.

Police had Army under pressure from the beginning but had very few opportunities to score. Even a few that came their way were wasted. Police midfield performed well. Keeper Ritesh Thapa was name the man-of-the-match. A happy Poilce coach Birat Krishna Shrestha said: "We stuck to our plans of scoring two goals within 20 minutes of the match." While Army coach Raju Kaji Shakya said "Our players failed to perform as well as they did in the last couple of matches."

Sahara UK bagged the fair play award.

Source:- Kathmandu Post