Dhaka, February 8
India were declared joint winners of the SAFF Women’s Under-19 Football Championships with hosts Bangladesh, though the visitors initially thought they had won the title through the toss of coin, in an unprecedented change of decision made by the match officials.
The match ended 1-1 after regulation time and went directly to a penalty shootout. Interestingly, all the 11 players of both sides, including the goalkeepers, converted their penalty kicks.
After the scoreline reached 11-11, the referee was about to continue the penalty shootout when she was told not to do that. She called in the two captains and India were the lucky side to win the toss.
Bangladesh’s players protested and their players refused to leave the field. There was confusion and the sizeable crowd was seen throwing bottles onto the field and shouting slogans.
After more than one hour, the match commissioner, who initially took the decision of tossing the coin, changed his decision and India and Bangladesh were declared joint winners.
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