Bangladesh Under-14 girls return home as AFC regional champions

Bangladesh Under-14 girls have returned home after defending their AFC Regional (South and Central) Championship title.

They thrashed India 4-0 in the final at the Aviator Stadium in Dushanbe on Sunday to seal their second successive title.

The girls touched down at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka around 9pm on Monday.

BFF women's wing Deputy Chairman Mahfuza Akter Kiron gave the girls a warm reception.

In the last edition, Bangladesh beat hosts Nepal in the final to win the title for the first time.

Coach Golam Rabbani Choton was delighted with his team's exploits in Tajikistan.

"We did not have the best 10 players from the last time, so I was worried," he told bdnews24.com.

"Keeping that in mind, I selected players from different tournaments and these girls have proven that they are on par with the players of the last edition.

"It feels great to be able to retain the title…if we hadn't won it the second time, many would have said the first win was a fluke. But we took the title in style this time as well."

Bangladesh racked up 25 goals in four matches in the tournament. They beat India 3-1 in the opening match and Nepal 9-0 in the next. They hit hosts Tajikistan for nine more in the semifinals before being crowned the undefeated champions.

Talisman Tahura Khatun, nicknamed ‘Kolsindur Messi’, netted 10 goals in the four matches, including two hat-tricks.