Nepal shrugged off their opening-match defeat as they beat the Maldives by 24-18 goals in the Begum Khaleda Zia IHF Nations Trophy (Asia Zone 2) held at Shaheed Captain Maansur Ali National Handball Stadium in the capital on Monday.
Bimala Tamang, led from the front, scoring seven goals for Nepal and also earned the Player of the Match award for her impressive performance.
The recognition was particularly special for her, as it was the first time in her career that she had received the honour.
The match was closely contested in the first half. Nepal held a narrow 12-11 lead at the break before increasing the tempo in attack after the interval.
They eventually secured a six-goal victory. Apart from Bimala’s seven goals in the match, Kalpana Oli and Uma Rai contributed four goals each for the team while Aishath Iba Ahmed was the Maldives’ leading scorer with five goals.
Delighted with her individual achievement, Bimala after the match said: “The match was a little difficult, but we succeeded through the collective efforts of the whole team…. this is the first time in my career that I have received the Player of the Match award. I cannot express my feelings in words…. I am extremely happy.”
Bimala also explained that the opening defeat against Bangladesh had not affected the team’s morale. Instead, it had strengthened their determination to perform better in the remaining matches.
“We were not mentally broken after losing the first match. We felt a little bit disappointed, but we knew there were more matches ahead.
We have to do better in today’s match and the matches to come. That mindset made our team mentally stronger,” she said.
The victory keeps Nepal in contention for a place in the final. Asked about their chances of reaching the title decider, Bimala smiled and said, “Let’s see. There is always hope.”
Earlier, Nepal were beaten by host Bangladesh in their opening match of the tournament.