Forward Sagorika scored four times as Bangladesh retained the title of the round-robin format SAFF Under-20 Women鈥檚 Championship with a 4-0 win over Nepal in the title-deciding match at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the city on Monday.听
Bangladesh had also beaten Nepal in the final of the inaugural edition in 2023 to claim their first SAFF U-20 title.
Sagorika, returning from a three-match suspension, finished as the second highest scorer of the tournament with eight goals behind Nepal鈥檚 Purnima Rai, who scored 10 goals. Sagorika was later adjudged as the player of the tournament.
She netted her first treble in Bangladesh鈥檚 9-1 rout of Sri Lanka in the group opener and added another goal in their 3-2 win over Nepal in the first-leg, a match that saw her sent off in the 56th minute. The forward鈥檚 red card led to a suspension that kept her out of the remaining group fixtures.
Bangladesh, who needed just one point to retain the title, finished the competition with 18 points from six games, while Nepal finished second with 12 points in as many outings.
Bhutan finished third with six points after crushing Sri Lanka 5-0 in the third-place decider of the four-team tournament earlier in the same venue.
In the day鈥檚 game, Peter Butler鈥檚 team signalled their intent from the very start as Sagorika tested Nepal goalkeeper Sujata Tamang just two minutes in, and in the next few minutes, Bangladesh earned successive corners.听
In the fifth minute, Sagorika鈥檚 goal-bound attempt was cleared off the line by Nepal defender Anisha Rai.
But the breakthrough arrived in the eighth minute; Sapna Rani split the defence with a line-breaking pass, allowing Sagorika to glide past Sujata and calmly slot the ball into an open net.
The second half saw complete domination from the home side as Sagorika doubled the lead with a smart run and composed finish in the 51st minute after Umhela Marma鈥檚 pass found her just outside the box.听
Sagorika completed her hat-trick in the 58th minute after a long ball from Joynob Bibi Rita found her in space, and she chipped the ball delightfully over an onrushing Sujata to all but seal the win.
The forward continued to hunt for more. She forced a save in the 64th minute and had a goal ruled out for offside in the 72nd and drew another save shortly after.
But in the 77th minute, she struck again, this time calmly converting a pass from Munki Akhter to complete her quadruple.
Peter Butler鈥檚 charges defeated Sri Lanka 9-1 and 5-0, Nepal 3-2 and Bhutan 4-1 and 3-0 in their previous matches.听
On the other hand, Nepal, who lost both ties to Bangladesh, beat Bhutan 6-1, 8-0 and Sri Lanka by identical 7-0 margins in their other two games. 听
However, a minute's silence was observed before the start of the match to commemorate the Bangladesh Air Force jet crash that killed at least 20 people and injured 171 in Dhaka鈥檚 Uttara area on Monday afternoon.听
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