Alpi feels pain after losing final

Despite being adjudged the best player and top scorer of the just-concluded SAFF Women’s U-19 Championship, Bangladesh forward Alpi Akter expressed her disappointment after failing to defend the regional women’s youth title.

Members of the Bangladesh team landed in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon after suffering a 4-0 defeat to India in Saturday’s final in Pokhara. The five-time champions failed to retain their crown, allowing India to clinch their third title.

“It is really very painful for us to lose the final,” Alpi told the media at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The diminutive forward scored seven goals in the tournament, including two hattricks against Bhutan and Nepal and one goal against India in the round-robin stage, but she failed to find the net in the final.

“I did not have any individual target to achieve. Rather, my teammates helped me win a couple of individual prizes and I am happy with these achievements. But I would have been happier even without my individual achievements if we could win the trophy,” said Alpi, adding that their finishing in the final was not up to the mark.

“We started the game well but could not do well in finishing, which we are still not able to understand,” Alpi said. “There is always victory and defeat and the fact is that we lost the final. We hope to come back stronger in the next edition with good preparation.”