Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

India U16 team beats Egypt’s AlAhly to win Friendship Cup

- Press Trust of India sportsdesk@hindustant­imes.com

India’s Under-16 football team beat Al-Ahly 2-1 in friendly match to win the India-Egypt Friendship Cup.

Head coach of the Indian team Bibiano Fernandes expressed his happiness for the win and said the match was good as it was beneficial and a learning experience.

“I’m really happy we have learned a lot of things. We are looking forward to build this team to the AFC,” Fernandes said. He noted that the team was undergoing training to play in the Under-16 AFC tournament which will be held in Nepal.

“They did a good job in terms of fitness and traveling and playing in another country. I’m really happy about this,” he said after the match yesterday.

The head coach also said that he was optimistic about his team and sees them in a good level in future.

Rohit Danu, who scored the first goal for India said that he was very happy for the win.

“I’m very happy to score the first goal. I gained good experience is this match,” said Danu.

Aenam Jyrwa, who scored the second goal, said that his goal confirmed the team’s trust in winning. “We have travelled so far to play this match so we are happy to win the first match and we are expected to win the second match as well,” Jyrwa said.

Ali Amr, Ahly team player who scored the only goal against India, congratula­ted the Indian team for their win.

“Good luck for the indian team. I enjoyed playing with them,” Amr said.

India’s Ambassador to Egypt, Sanjay Bhattachar­yya said that the match showed that the young team has a lot of talent.

“I saw a lot of good techniques, some of the players were really brilliant. But the most important thing is that football won. I think this is just the beginning I’m looking forward to an Egyptian team to go to India,” said the Ambassador. Samer Abdel Rahman, coach of Al-Ahly under-16 team, said that he noticed that the Indian team was talented from their first interactio­n.

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