In NRN Football Cup final, Narayan Gopal IFF suffers
crushing defeat at Al Arabi Club. By Usha Wagle Gautam
The Mechi Kali Janajagriti has won the NRN Football Cup, beating Narayan Gopal IFF by three goals to nil in the final match played at the Al Arabi Club. Around 7,000 fans attended the final match between the two teams.
Both teams were unable to capitalise on opportunities in the first half, which went goalless. The stalemate was broken by Lakpa Tamang, who scored the first goal for the Mechi Kalis. Sandip Tamang followed with two goals of his own, practically eliminating any hopes that the Narayan Gopals had of making a comeback.
The winning team received the champion’s trophy and a cash prize of QR10,000, while the runner-up team was given the second-place trophy and a cash prize of QR5,000.
Makalu Black Cat Belt, which finished third in the tournament, was given the third-place trophy and a cash prize of QR3,000.
Manoj Shahi from Makalu Black Cat won the Best Scorer award. The Best Tournament award was given to Babul Hast from Mechi Kali, while Jitendra BK of the same team won the Best Goalie Award. The awards were distributed by Abdullah al-Naimi, manager of Al Arabi Club; Dev Kaji Dangol, founding vice -president of NRN-NCC; and Hari Har Poudel, second secretary at Nepal’s Embassy to Qatar.
The award function also featured a musical show featuring singers Junu Rijal, Devika KC and Tulsi Parajuli, among others. Comedian Wilson Bikram Rai also entertained the audience with his antics.
The musical programme started with the performance of singer Dhurba BC, followed by Tilak Ramdan and NRN-NCC Singing Star 2011 Dinesh Limbu.
Devika KC performed fresh songs from her new album. This was her fifth performance at Al Arabi Club. “I am quite familiar with my audience here and today I was more than happy to perform in front of such a big crowd,” she said.
Singer Tulsi Parajuli sang more than five songs, all well-received by the crowd. Parajuli, performing for the first time in Qatar, said he was surprised by the size of the audience.
Junu Rijal’s song went down so well with the audience that they asked for an encore.
Bikram Rai caricatured various Nepali politicians and performed a comedy song.
The one-month-long tournament was organised by the National Coordination Council of Nonresident Nepalese Association (NRN-NCC) to promote sports among Nepali expats. Buddha Gurung coordinated the technical matters, while Deepak Khadka managed the volunteers.
Prabin Rai, Hom Gurung, Birendra Rajbanshi, Kamal Giri, Ayub Gaga and Mohammed Azdin were referees for the tournament.