Agencies
Thailand
India marked a historic moment in women’s futsal with a ruthless 11-1 demolition of Maldives in their opening match of the SAFF Women’s Futsal Championship at the Nonthaburi Stadium on Tuesday.
India’s breakthrough came in the 4th minute when Arya More’s well-timed cross found Mithila Ramani at the far post, who turned it in to open the scoring. later, Ritika Singh doubled the lead, calmly finishing a pass from Diti Kanungo inside the box.
The match burst into life again in the 17th minute, with a flurry of goals.
Sonali Mondal created two quick opportunities: first, she set up Khushbu Saroj, who slotted the ball past the Maldives goalkeeper, and seconds later, a one-two with Ritika saw the latter score into an open net.
Minutes later, Sonali herself scored after combining with Ritika, breaking down the Maldives defence to make it 5-0 at half-time.
India came out firing in the second half. Khushbu Saroj completed her four-goal haul with three more strikes in quick succession, a powerful long-range shot, a composed finish from a through ball by Ritika, and a clinical strike from a well-executed set-piece involving Sonali.
India were briefly reduced to four players after Diti Kanungo was shown a red card for a last-ditch tackle on Maldives’ Mariyam Noora, but the Tigresses remained composed and continued their
dominance.
Nishka Parkash added two more goals, first jinking past the goalkeeper and fixo Aminath Fazla to score in an empty net, and then combining with Ritika to finish a one-two move.
Sonali Mondal scored her second in the 37th minute after stealing the ball from Fathimath Saliya.
Maldives managed a late consolation when a corner by Mariyam Noora deflected off Achom Degio into the net, but the outcome had long been
decided.
