Bengal girls suffered a humiliating 9-0 defeat at the hands of fancied Manipur in the Dr. Talimeren AO junior national girls’ football final held at Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday morning.

Mira Chanu, who scored a hat-trick, received the man-of-the-match award, while Radima Debi also struck a hat-trick, Thokchom scored a brace, and Pushpa Rani Debi scored once for the winners.

Amidst the misery, Bengal had the only consolation that their striker Malati Munda had been selected in the under-17 national preparatory camp. Even in the final, Bengal scored the goal first in the final courtesy of Malati Mumnda, but that was canceled due to an offside decision.

According to Bengal coach Rinku Ghosh, the key reason behind such an embarrassing score-line was central defender Kaberi Roy’s exit in the early session following a knee injury. “Kaberi was consistent throughout the tournament. She had to be replaced after I found she was limping. With her exit, our whole defensive organization crashed, and Manipur’s attacks flooded into our box,” explained.

Ghosh mentioned another point, adding, “We have been playing matches every alternative day, while Manipur got more than a week’s rest before the final. Our girls received only eight days of training, while Manipur took almost a month of preparation before heading to Andhra Pradesh. The girls said after the match that they were exhausted.”