The Indian women’s football team was declared the joint winners of the SAFF U-19 tournament after the organisers declared them the joint winners along with Bangladesh.
India took an early lead in the first half through Sibani Devi only for Bangladesh to equalise in the match’s dying minutes. With the score tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the game went into penalties. But when two teams could not be separated even on penalties, India was declared the winner following a coin toss.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Indian players left the field but the Bangladeshi players refused to do so. The match result did not sit well with the locals who started protesting by throwing stones onto the field of play.
This created an atmosphere of chaos and confusion and the police had to step in. Following an hour of confusion and chaos, the officials had to change their decision give in to the pressure from the crowd and declare both India and Bangladesh joint winners of the Women’s Under-19 SAFF Football Tournament.
The decision reflects poorly on the SAFF officials and their inability to stand by their initial decision which has cost the Indian Women’s U-19 Football team a well-deserved trophy.
