By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent

Kathmandu, June 30 - Phakshing United clinched the cup of the Kathmandu Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) Trungkar Friendship Soccer Tournament 2007 edging Kathmandu City Club 3-1 in the penalty shootout after an edgy final match at Sanu Gaucharan Ground, Naxal.

After regular match time and 10 minutes of extra play, both the teams failed to make any goal.

Both the teams looked equally competent and played a tough match but no player was able to score a goal.

Because of strong defensive line from both the sides, even Tashi Tsering of KCC, former national player could not make much impact during the match.

The regular 70 minutes match game ended in a draw. Another 10 minutes of extra play also yielded no winning goals. KCC’s Tashi Tsering was hurt during the extra time, and his team was reduced to 10 men, however the game remained in draw.

Finally penalty shootout ended the final match in favour of Phakshing United.

The penalty shootout started with KCC scoring the first goal. Phakshing United returned the goal. Then KCC missed the nest two penalty shots out of the post, while Phakshing successfully managed to make their second two goals into the post. Deflecting the fourth penalty shot from KCC, Phakshing keeper made the winning save, which sent his team members in exhilarating celebration mood.

With the final penalty score of 3:1 and victory on its side, the Phakshing United lifted the Cup and a winning cheque 10, 000 Rupees.

KCC took away runners-up cup a cheque of 5000 Rupees.

Srongtsen School was awarded the best disciplined team. Tashi of Namgyal High School team was awarded the prize of the highest scorer of the tournament.

Earlier on Thursday the semifinals were played in similar fashion where both matches between KCC and Norling Club and between Phakshing United and Namgyal High School ended in draw and were decided by penalty shootout with the two former teams winning the games.

The soccer tournament is organised by the RTYC, Kathmandu as part of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s forthcoming 72nd Birthday [Tib: Trungkar] celebration and was participated by 12 teams representing various Tibetan associations and sports clubs in Nepal.

In his closing speech, President of RTYC Kathmandu, Mr Tenzin Wangdu thanked all supporters and volunteers for their team work in making the tournament a grand success without being stalled by untoward incidences. Unlike previous years, this year’s tournament kicked off in friendly manner and concluded effectively without any scuffle between players, which is sometimes a regular feature of Tibetan sporting events.

Mr Wangdu expressed extreme pleasure and thanked all players for upholding the tournament’s sole objective of friendship and sportsmanship.