Diti Kanungo's Four-Goal Blitz Powers India to 8-1 SAFF Futsal Win Over Nepal

Diti Kanungo (4', 4', 13', 15') scored four goals in the first period to put India in command of the match. Ritika Singh (22', 37') scored two, while Nishka Prakash (8') and Khushbu Saroj (24') netted one each. Manisha Thapa Magar (8') was the only scorer for Nepal.

India currently leads the table with six points from three matches, followed by Bangladesh and Pakistan, both on four points but with a match in hand.

India, coming on the back of a 1-3 defeat against Bangladesh earlier this week, pinned their pivot high up the court right next to the opposition goalkeeper, a tactic that paid dividends in the early exchanges. In this case, Diti, who was sent to operate within an arm's length of the Nepal custodian, caused confusion and scored the early goals.

She put India in the lead in the 4th minute, back-heeling a shot from Arya More to score. Lightning struck twice within seconds, when Ritika's long-range effort was deflected from within the circle by Diti.

Nepal never really managed to recover from the early onslaught, save for a couple of stray counter-attacks, which were dealt with by the Indian defence.

Nishka finished off a move that she herself orchestrated, breaking down the centre, before playing a one-two with Sonali Mondal to open up the defence and scoring into an empty net.

Manisha dribbled past her marker and produced a shot that beat India goalkeeper Aiswarya Arumugam. The Indian custodian redeemed herself seconds later, when she pulled off a fine save in a one-on-one opportunity off Manisha.

The tides turned back in the Futsal Tigresses' favour once again. Ritika drilled a low and hard pass to Diti at the Nepal goalmouth, and the latter scored with just one touch in the 13th minute. A couple of minutes later, a low cross by Khushbu evaded all for an unmarked Diti to poke in at the far post.

India did not step off the gas in the second half and scored immediately after the restart. Diti returned the favour to Ritika this time, as the latter finished it off, beating the goalkeeper at the near post.

Minutes later, Ritika set up Khushbu to score India's seventh, putting the Futsal Tigresses in cruise control. Nishka could have further extended the lead on the half-hour mark, but the woodwork denied her, as she pulled the trigger from outside the D.

With six minutes left on the clock, Nepal threw caution to the wind and went for a power play to take advantage of a numerical superiority against India. However, that only gave India the opportunity to try their long-range effort on an open Nepal goal.

India's substitute goalkeeper Tanvi Mavani, seeing an open Nepal goal, volleyed it from inside her penalty area. Nepal captain Dipa Rai, diving backwards, just managed to clear it off the line. Seconds later, Ritika also had a crack at the open Nepal goal from inside India's half, but it was blocked.

Ritika struck the final nail in the 37th minute, when Nepal's Sushma Tamang blocked a shot by Khushbu. In doing so, however, she created an open goal as the Nepal goalkeeper had dived to save it as well. Ritika capitalised on the space to score the final goal of the match, as India picked up their second win of the tournament.

- ANI