I did it for my parents, for my country: Sagorika
Bangladesh forward Mosammat Sagorika said she drew inspiration from the presence of her parents at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka to go that extra mile in rescuing a draw for her side against India in the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship final on Thursday.
India led in the eighth minute of the match, courtesy of Shibani, and had the game in control for the most part but it seemed that Sagorika had other plans as she found the equaliser for Bangladesh deep into stoppage time, taking the game to penalties.
Sagorika's strike helped the women in red and green become joint champions along with India following a controversial decision from the match commissioner, who opted for a coin toss to determine the result instead of continuing with the penalty shootout after all eleven players from each team converted their spot kicks.
"I did not know that my parents would come to watch the final match. During the interval, I was astonished when someone told me that my father and mother had come to the stadium and I ran to them. I am very happy that my parents came this far to watch me on the ground," Sagorika said after the match.
The striker burst into tears as she hugged her parents soon after the completion of the prize-giving ceremony.
"I had the determination to show my parents that I could score goals and perform well because everyone told me that I could not do much with my parents present on the stands but I was able to do it for my parents and nation," said Sagorika, who revealed once not allowed by her father to play football.
"Initially, my father did not allow me to play football but he supported me a lot afterwards and I promised them that I would become a big player one day. Today, I showed my parents that I could also do it," Sagorika said
Sagorika said she was happy to hear that her neighbors who were critical of her watched her performance by setting up a projector in the village. She also expressed her satisfaction to have struck the equaliser in what helped Bangladesh become joint champions.
"I was feeling bad when India scored against us. I was thinking why we would not be able to get a goal as we were playing better football. There was a good feeling after scoring the equaliser," Sagorika said. "Of course, there was regret for not becoming the standalone champions. We should be champions but we are also happy being joint champions."
Sagorika said her ultimate goal was to play for the senior team and realised that she still had a long way to achieve that.
"Securing a place in the senior national team will be very hard because there are a lot of good players who play better and I know I have to perform better to secure a place in the national team. I am ready to work harder," said Sagorika.
Bangladesh captain Afeida Khandokar, who led the side for the first time, said she was not aware of the coin toss stipulation that was carried out. Despite the confusion leading to controversy, she said she had no sorrow and was happy to be joint champions.
"There is nothing to feel sorrowful about, rather it is happiness for us because we added another accolade to our team, irrespective of the way we became champions. If we could have become sole champions, the joy would have been greater for me because I captained the team for the first time," said the central defender
"How could the fate of the match be decided by a coin toss as it is not in the by-laws? Neither the match commissioner nor the referee told me about the toss that would decide the championship. I thought that the toss was taking place because of the re-taking of the penalty shootout," said Afeida.