UDAYPUR, Feb 12: Rupandehi XI edged past Jhapa FC in sudden death on Sunday to book semifinal ticket in the Fourth Rumpum Udayapur Gold Cup 2073 football tournament played at the Tharuhat Stadium in Gaighat, Udayapur.
Rupandehi netted deep in the second half to cancel Jhapa's 67th minute lead and settle for 1-1 draw in the regulation time. Following the draw in the regulation time, the fate of winner was directly decided through spotkick. The penalty shootout ended in a 4-4 tie and Rupandehi emerged victorious in sudden death.
Bikram Limbu scored the winner in sudden death for Rupandehi after while Bishal Rai failed to achieve target for Jhapa. Before that Kalu Thapa and Saurav Magar had converted for Rupandehi in sudden death. Similarly, Bishal Gurung and Deepak Rai scored from spots for Jhapa.
Earlier, Rupandehi's Dipak Rai failed to score the first strike from spot while Jhapa's Sanjog Rai too missed a scoring chance. Saurav Magar, Uttam gurung, Bijay Dhimal and Dilip Chhetri converted from spots in tiebreaker for Rupandehi. Similarly, Dilen Loktan, Raj Kumar Limbu, African Ajayi Martins and Khamir Gilsan Kandangwa scored for Jhapa from spots.
Winner Rupandehi will take on Himalayan Shepra Club in the semifinal to be played on Tuesday. Similarly, Sankata Club will vie against Morang XI in the first semifinal on Monday.
MMC defeats Rupandehi to reach last four
Earlier, Jhapa went ahead in the 67th minute through Rejin Subba. Bikki Chaudhary leveled the scores for the winning team five minutes later.
Rejin of Jhapa was declared the man-of-the-match and awarded Rs 5000 for the feat.
