Football Federation of Sri Lanka felicitates Silver Medal winning team

Sri Lanka under-23 national soccer team who won the Silver at the 10th Edition South Asian Games football tournament, will be felicitated by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka on Tuesday, September 19 at the National Football Training Centre, Beddegana.

The soccerites will receive rupees one hundred thousand each for their efforts. The defending champions Pakistan won the gold defeating Sri Lanka in the final 1-0. Nepal took the bronze with a 1-nil win over India in the third place match.

Eight countries... Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan (Group ‘A’), India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan (Group ‘B’) played in the tournament. Pakistan and Sri Lanka headed group ‘A’ while India and Nepal took first and second slots in the group ‘B’. In the semi-finals, Sri Lanka beat India on a penalty ‘shoot-out’ 6-5, after the game ended in a 1-all draw after extra period of play.

This was the second time Sri Lanka entered the final of the football tournament and in 1991, South Asian Games held in Colombo 15 years ago, Maldives won the gold defeating Sri Lanka 1-0.

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka is happy with the performance of young Sri Lanka soccerites’ and the under-23 team will continue training under the Korean coach Jan Juang in preparation for future international tournaments.

L.F.