India girls beat Pakistan in AFC U-16 Women’s Championship qualifier

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Sep. 19 (IANS): The India U-16 girls football team beat arch-rivals Pakistan 4-0 in the ongoing AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifier at the MFF Stadium here on Wednesday.

While Avika Singh (22nd minute) opened the scoring for India, the Pakistani goalie Ayesha (43rd) conceded an own goal at the stroke of half-time.

Sunita Munda (82nd) added another to get herself on the scoresheet, whereas skipper Shilky Devi (88th) wrapped it up in style.

Following the win, India are firmly seated at the top of Group B, having collected six points from two matches.

Sunita, Shilky and Avika combined well to wreak havoc on the arch-rivals but the Pakistani defenders soaked in the pressure until the 22nd minute when Avika notched the opening goal for India.

Sunita breezed past the left-back to deliver a low cross for Avika, whose well-timed tap-in earned India the lead.

Pakistan were happy to sit back in their own half and defend. Goalkeeper Ayesha made some exquisite saves during the course of the game but a miscued effort from her in the 41st minute landed inside the goal to hand India a 2-0 lead.

After the changeover, India continued to mount more pressure on Pakistan. The third goal came in the 82nd minute when Sunita, the architect of Avika’s goal, got her name on the score sheet.

Six minutes later, skipper Shilky latched on to another attack down the middle and kept her calm to score the fourth goal of the game.

India are scheduled to take on hosts Mongolia in their next match, two days later.