SAFF U-16 championship: India begin campaign in style

The Indian U-16 national football team kicked off its campaign in the SAFF U-16 Championship in style drubbing 10-man Sri Lanka 4-1 in its Group B opener at the Army Ground in Kathmandu on Sunday.

India are being represented by AIFF RegionalAcademy's Under-15 boys.

Striker Bedashwor Singh struck twice in each half (23rd, 88th) while Krishna Pandit (21st) and Prosenjit Chakroborty (66th) scored one apiece to seal the win for the Goutam Ghosh-coached side.

Courtesy the win, India are now on three points from one match.

India led 2-1 at half time.

"Results stay immaterial. We wanted to see whether we were sticking to our philosophy, and I am glad that the boys were able to do that," Ghosh said after the match.

"We had 75 percent of the ball possession. The Lankans were defending with ten men for most part of the match. We need to work on a few areas and for that we will be watching the video footage of the match. Before the match against Bangladesh next Thursday, hopefully we will be able to plug the holes," he added.

India next play Bangladesh on Thursday.

Photograph: AIFF Media