Sydney Feb 14, Himalayan Youth Club (HYC) wins the inaugural edition of the much-awaited football tournament ‘Parra Park FC Super Cup 2022’ held on 13 February at 35 South Street, Rydalmere, NSW. It has Ruby Homes and AM Advisory as the title sponsors.
In the tournament played in the round-robin format teams, the 7 Sydney-based competent teams played against one another. In the league round Machhapuchhre Football Club (MFC), the most award-winning football team in the Nepalese community in Australia, had the highest points closely followed by HYC. The two top-flight teams in 40+ age group contested in the nail-biting decider. The Sydney soccer powerhouses having the same standard in ability and strength unleashed friendly rivalry. The free-flowing thrilling duel between the in-firm teams delighted the spectators. Both teams in terrific form created goal-scoring opportunities since the kick-off.
Nepalese community’s one best footballer, Sudin Pradhan opened the scoring for Machhapuchhre Football Club (MFC) in the 9th minute with a quality free-kick and the score stayed 1-0 until the first half. 3 minutes before the last whistle, HYC equalised the score with the firebrand striker Kshitiz Shrestha scoring a goal from the small D area. Earlier, Kshitiz had collected the ball passed to him in the D area, He ran forward passing it to Bidur on the left. Bidur, with one touch, passed back the ball to Kshitiz who sent the ball beyond the goal line with a knee-high shot into the far-right corner of the goal post. Both the assist and finishing were remarkable. The striker duo is very famous for doing A one-two mainly in the opponent’s danger zone.
In the dying moment, the HYC was given the penalty. The penalty taker Bidur Basnet placed the ground ball on the right side of the MFC goal minder. The penalty goal was ruled out as one player from HYC was in the D area when the penalty was taken. When Bidur retook the spot kick, he blasted the missile just into the corner of the cross bar left of the goalkeeper.
Soon after the penalty goal was scored the clock expired. All the matches were commissioned by Yuddha Lama and Suraj Bohora served as the score update manager.
The trophy was won by Himalayan Youth Club, established in 1998 one of the oldest football clubs in the Nepalese community in Australia. The tournament was organised to celebrate the truly inspiring contributions and valuable efforts made by the football-loving volunteers and footballers who initiated the football culture in Nepalese Australian diaspora in the last quarter of the century.
The team HYC is originally known as North Shore Boys until 2001, still have Rajiv Pradhan, Dal Gurung, Kshitiz Shrestha, Bidur Basnet, Sachin Shrestha, Yogendra Bhandari, Nabin Rana, Heeraman Shrestha as its players. The team participated first time in 1998 in Gurkha Nepalese Community League. Some teams have the players who have been participating in Football tournaments held in our community for more than two decades. HYC, one oldest team in Nepalese diaspora in Australia was captained by the oldest player in the competition Raju Manandhar in the inaugural match. Earlier the opening ceremony was hosted by Samina Paudyal and Saurav Paudel.
The final match was followed by the award distribution ceremony. The very presentable closing ceremony was hosted by Samina Paudyal who set the tone of the event in a very compelling and impressive way. The club president Sanjeev Rauniyar thanked all the participating teams, sponsors and well-wishers for their invaluable support and cooperation. He also proudly announced that the event will be held annually with more attractive events. He also thanked Fusion sports for the live telecast of all games.
On Behalf of the AM Advisory, entrepreneur and director duo Aasish Chokhal and Mahesh Thapa, the young, reputed footballer and promising entrepreneur Aasish Chokal thanked the organisers for creating the opportunity for his team to reach out Nepalese community and congratulated all on being the part of the successful event and the significant celebration.
On Behalf of the Ruby homes the successful entrepreneur and director duo Sudeep Joshi and Biswash Bhattarai, the renowned veteran footballer Sudip Joshi also shared his views regarding the proud growth of Nepalese football in Australia and the community cooperation and harmony enhanced by sports.
ANFA President Bijen Batajoo congratulated the winning team and wished better luck next time for other teams who could not make it in this edition. He also thanked Parra Park FC for organising a football tournament for the senior players to offer them a kind of special opportunity and source of inspiration for the young footballers in our community.
The veteran footballer and NRNA, Australia Vice-President, and NSW coordinator Deb Gurung shared with Nepalese Australian. com, “Sport and recreation are the heart and soul of our communities. They bring families and locals together and always intend to make the sports and recreation related event inclusive. Team Parra Park has done a tremendous job to promote our decent football culture and community harmony. Dignity and pride created through sports, mainly football, run deep in our mother country and Australian Nepali community. I have been very impressed by the sportsmanship displayed by the senior players which can be an inspiration for the young players.”
Ambesh Rajbhandari, the HYC captain and the renowned footballer of our community shared, “We would like to dedicate this trophy to all the veteran players and volunteers who have contributed to excelling our football culture for more than 20 years and our team work was the key.”
The HYC President Nabin Rana shared, “Hats off to team Parra Park FC for the picture perfect championship exclusively organised for the 40 + players.”
A raffle was held to collect the money that would be donated to Food for Life, Nepal.
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