Sanjida in 7th heaven

Sanjida Akter, the 15-year-old girl from Mymensingh who enchanted the whole of Bangladesh through her skills during the AFC Under-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers in Dhaka two months ago, has been named as the seventh best player of the whole qualifying campaign, thanks to her four goals in four matches.

The incredibly talented forward, who made the oppositions sweat as Bangladesh thrashed Jordan and United Arab Emirates before giving India and eventual qualifiers Iran a run for their money, was placed in seventh position among all the players taking part in four groups across Asia, informed a Bangladesh Football Federation official yesterday.

The news was greeted with pleasure by the BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, who hoped that such recognition would help take Bangladesh women's football forward.

“It's a great achievement for Sanjida as well as for us. If we can nurse players like her properly, then I'm sure Bangladesh women's football will go to a much higher level,” said Salahuddin.

Thanks to her exploits in the championship qualifiers, Sanjida got a call-up to the women's national team for the SAFF Women's Championship in Pakistan last month, but she skipped that due to her Junior Secondary Certificate examinations, the results of which would be out within a few days.

The Bangladesh team, meanwhile, despite failing to qualify for the final round, were ranked eighth among 15 participating teams.