Prolific Bangladesh striker Sabina Khatun was at the double as Bangladesh got off to a winning start in the Saff Women’s Championship, beating the Maldives 3-0 in Kathmandu Wednesday.
The likes of Sabina, who has previous experience of playing club football in Maldives, and Monika Chakma were in their elements as the women in red and green dominated their opponents.
The first meaningful opportunity for Bangladesh came at the half hour mark when Sabina sent Srimoti Krishna Rani Sarkar clear with a pass but with only the goalkeeper to beat, the latter missed.
The Bengal Tigresses however did not have to wait long to break the deadlock as in the very next minute Sabina scored with a fine right footed shot from 40 yards.
Bangladesh seemed to be in a hurry to seal the game as they netted twice more in the next eight minutes.
Defender Masura Parvin doubled the lead in the 34th minute when she avoided the offside trap after a through pass from a teammate and struck home.
Captain Sabina grabbed her second and Bangladesh’s third in the 40th minute when she hit home the rebound after Maria Manda’s shot from outside the box was parried away by the Maldives netminder.
Bangladesh got opportunities to extend the scoreline in the second half but were unable to do so.
A Sabina volley from a Krishna cross at the hour mark narrowly failed to find the target while in the 73rd minute the latter couldn’t connect a header from a teammate’s cross.
Akhi Khatun shot from distance in the 75th minute but couldn’t hit the target.
In their next match, Bangladesh will take on Pakistan this Saturday.
