‘Tears of victory’ for Shamsunnahar

Bangladesh captain Shamsunnahar. had her long-cherished dream of winning an age-group title of the South Asian region fulfilled at last when she led the team to a 3-0 win in the final of the SAFF Women's U-20 Championship in Kamalapur yesterday.

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Although the striker won the Women's SAFF Championship last year, she had to be content with two runners-up trophies while playing in age-group teams.

Now that she is about to graduate to the senior side, captain Shamsunnahar had one last chance to realise her dream, and she did so by leading from the front by becoming the best player of the championship and also the top scorer with five goals.

"Our target was to play in the final and since we have trained together for a long time and played in three tournaments together. We were runners-up twice and this was our last chance to go one step further as a lot of players would not be eligible due to their age," the elated captain told reporters following the final win.

"Since the tournament took place at home, everyone hoped that we would be able to keep the trophy here," Shamsunnahar said. "I only said only one thing (to my teammates) after coming onto the field. I told them that we would play to win and would cry tears of victory and not of defeat," added Shamsunnahar.

A section of the large crowd cheering the home team during the final. Photo: firoz ahmed

Goalkeeper Rupna Chakma, who emerged as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, was the only member other than Shamsunnahar to win the SAFF Women's Championship five months ago. She said the two of them motivated the youngsters towards this success.

"We had won the SAFF Women's Championship five months ago. We motivated the youngsters by saying that we wanted to keep this trophy at home. They also knew what we wanted and what we had to do," the goalkeeper said.