Both the Youth (U-17) and Junior (U-19) teams of the Maldives finished 3rd in the four-nation Bangabandhu IHF Challenge Trophy Women’s Handball beating their Nepalese rivals in the 3rd place-deciding match at Shaheed Captain (Retd) M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium here on Tuesday.
In the day's first match, the Maldives Women's U-17 Youth team beat Nepal U-17 youth team by 41-10 goals after leading the first half by 19-03 goal.
The Maldives team also maintained their supremacy in the Women's U-19 Junior competition defeating their Nepalese counterpart by 22-05 goals after dominating the first half by 11-01 goals.
The final matches of both the Youth (U-17) and Junior (U-19) groups between holders India and hosts Bangladesh will be held on Wednesday (May 17) at the same venue.
Schedule of finals:
Bangladesh vs India (U-17) at 1 pm
Bangladesh vs India (U-19) at 3 pm
Ahead of the final, the skipper of Bangladesh Junior (U-19) team Shyamoli Minz expressed her determination to fight till the end.
“We are ready to fight till last, we will take the field (tomorrow) with our full strength.. We will try our best to minimize the mistakes we committed in the last match against India, and also try not to commit the same mistakes” said Shyamoli.
The head coach of Bangladesh Youth (U-17) team Dalia Akhter wants to repeat the performances of previous match against India where Bangladesh put up a spirited show.
“India definitely a strong opponent as they have the more experience playing in the upper level, we displayed a spirited show in the last match against them and want to continue it in the final,” said Dalia.
However, she was concerned with a number of injuries. "My first choice goalkeeper Diya Akter is injured and another important player Mahi is also carrying injuries, however we have to go and fight it out,” said Dalia.
Mosasmmat Marfi, the inspirational skipper of Youth (U-17) team is looking forward to restrict India. “We fought hard in the last match, but a lot of silly mistakes put us down., We want to start afresh in the final,” said the talented youngster.