NB In Pics | India wins SAFF Championships title for 9th time; two titles in less than a month!

Sports    05-Jul-2023
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India lifted the SAFF Championship by getting better of Kuwait in the penalty shootout on Tuesday at the Sri Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium.

India wins SAFF Championships title for 9th time 
 
Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made the difference for the Blue Colts once again as he saved a crucial penalty kick in the summit clash to help India beat Kuwait 5-4 in the shootout.
 
 
 
This is second title for India coming in less than a month after winning Hero Intercontinental Cup last month.
 
 
 
After five rounds of penalty kicks, the scoreline was 4-4 with both sides missing a penalty each and the sudden death rule was kicked off.
 
 
Mahesh Naorem stepped up and scored for the Indian team. Sandhu had a difficult challenge in front of him as Kuwait captain Khaled Hajiah stepped in to bring back parity in the scoreline.
 
 
Sandhu made a diving save to keep Khaled's shot away from the goal line. As soon as he saved the penalty, he ran and pulled off an animated celebration in front of the home fans.
 
 
With this win, Indian head coach Igor Stimac becomes the first foreign head coach to win back-to-back SAFF Championship titles.
 
This was also the first time that India defeated two West Asian countries in back-to-back matches, after winning the semi-final against Lebanon, also on penalties.
SAFF Championships Indian football team Kuwait football