India beat spirited Nepal 2-0 to qualify for SAFF Championships semifinals
Bengaluru, Jun 24: Captain Sunil Chhetri found the target yet again as India beat a spirited Nepal 2-0 in their second group match to book a berth in the SAFF Championship semifinals here on Saturday.
Chhetri (61st minute) scored his fourth goal of the tournament before Mahesh Singh (70th) struck to notch up the home side's second consecutive win. India had beaten Pakistan 4-0 in their opening match on Wednesday with Chhetri scoring a hat-trick.
Chhetri (91 goals from 139 matches) had already become the second most prolific scorer among Asians -- after Ali Daei (109 from 148 matches) of Iran -- and third among active players in the world. He is the most prolific goal-getter among active Asian players.
With six points from two wins, India qualified for the semifinals from Group A along with Kuwait (also six points), who beat Pakistan 4-0 earlier in the day for their second victory.
India play Kuwait on June 27 to decide the group winner. Nepal and Pakistan are out of the reckoning for a semifinal spot as they lost two matches each.
Before India broke the deadlock, they had to ward off a strong fight from Nepal. India entered the match with large scale changes as only Chhetri, Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad retained their places in the starting 11 from the previous match against Pakistan.
Nepal ran India close the whole of first half with a fine display of solid defence and quick counterattacks.
The first clear chance of the match came Sahal's way but his header from a cross sailed just wide of the goal post in the 21st minute.
Nepal could have gone 1-0 up in the match had Bimal Ghatri was a bit quicker with his shot, as it was kicked away by Rohit Kumar close to the goal line in the 34th minute.
In the 41st minute, Mahesh Singh, who made a fine run down the right flank, jinked a lovely cross to Sahal inside the box but the latter overran the ball and could not execute a volley.
India showed more urgency and purpose in the second half, and the result came their way in the 61st minute.
Sahal and Mahesh engaged themselves in a lighting one-two to evade Nepalese defence before finding an unmarked Chhetri inside the box, and the forward just had to beat goalkeeper Kiran Limbu.
The goal energized the Indian players and they continued the search for another with Sahal marshalling the midfield brilliantly. The Kerala man along with Mahesh Singh worked the engine room of India in the second half.
The second goal was a tribute to Sahal's speed and skills. The midfielder made a bull run through the centre and his pass found Chhetri but his shot deflected off Limbu.
However, Mahesh Singh was right in place to head the ball into the net in the 70th minute as India gained a decisive 2-0 lead.
Despite conceding a two-goal lead, Nepal tried gamely to stage a comeback. But India were able to keep the scoreline intact.
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Rolls Royce plans major expansion in India eyeing jet engine, naval propulsion programmes
New Delhi (PTI): British aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce on Sunday said it is looking at making India its third "home market" outside of the UK in line with a plan to unlock the full potential of opportunities across an array of domains including jet engine, naval propulsion, land systems and advanced engineering.
In an interview to PTI, Sashi Mukundan, the executive vice president of Rolls-Royce India, elaborating on the move, said the company is planning for a "big investment" in the country and listed developing a next-generation aero engine in India as a priority to power the combat jets that New Delhi will produce under the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.
Besides the UK, Rolls Royce considers the US and Germany as its "home markets" as the company has considerable presence including manufacturing facilities in these two countries.
Mukundan also highlighted how Rolls Royce can contribute significantly to address India's requirement for electric propulsion capability for boosting the Indian Navy's combat prowess.
He suggested that the development of the jet engine for the AMCA involving Rolls Royce could also help India manufacture engines for naval propulsion as the company is among very few engine makers globally to have the capability to "marinize the aero engine".
Mukundan, without divulging specific details, said Rolls Royce was eyeing to make significant investment to expand its footprint in India, noting that the country has "scale, policy clarity, and a strong push" towards a defence and industrial ecosystem that is expanding rapidly and becoming more sophisticated.
"If everything goes well, it would be a significant investment. It'll be big enough that people will notice it, but I don't want to put a number to it. What matters is the impact of this investment, which would be the development of the entire value chain and ecosystem here across sectors that we operate in," he said.
The top Rolls Royce executive said the company will firm up two MoUs with (Memorandum of Understanding) with two defence public sector undertakings in India. While one pact is for manufacturing the engines for the Arjun tanks, the other is for engines for the future ready combat vehicles.
In October, CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, during a business roundtable had conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is going to be very critical for Rolls-Royce going forward.
"We have developed two other home markets outside the UK -- the US and Germany. We want to make India our next one. What do we mean by that? We want to do everything across the field, and it's not just defence," Mukundan said.
"That ambition cuts across defence, naval propulsion, land systems, manufacturing, advanced engineering skills, and technology development, all of which align closely with India's own priorities," he said.
On the engines for AMCA, Mukundan said extensive discussions and background work are underway on how to move forward.
"If India is thinking about next-generation engines, Rolls-Royce is probably the best partner. We have the capability, we have the experience both in India and globally, and we have repeatedly demonstrated that we can do it," he said.
Mukundan said all of the engine design work can be done in India, with the relevant technology transferred and all new intellectual property (IP) rights can be jointly owned with India.
"Once you own design IP, you have strategic control. Manufacturing then becomes the next stage, and that is always more complex. It's about ensuring that capability is built systematically and safely," he said.
The Rolls Royce top executive said Rolls Royce engine for AMCA could be helpful for India for developing electric propulsion for naval engines.
Elaborating on it, he said essentially, electric and hybrid propulsion naval engines are marine gas turbines, which are built from the aero engine core.
"Rolls-Royce is one of the few engine makers who have the capability to marinize the aero engine at scale. Why this matters is that it is not viable to build an entire marine propulsion supply chain from scratch here because the quantities in the navy are very low," he said.
"But if the aero-core derivative is built and co-designed in India, the overlapping supply chain becomes justifiable and can support both the aero and naval marine," he noted.
Mukundan also highlighted Rolls Royce's dominance in the global jet engine manufacturing.
"If we look at it globally, we've been building and certifying engines every 18 months including combat and commercial. If I talk specifically about combat, we power the Eurofighter Typhoon with our EJ200 engine, which is one of our recent engine programmes, with 90 kilonewton thrust capacity."
He also said that Rolls Royce is leading the mandate of the Global Combat Aircraft Programme, which is an initiative of the UK along with Japan and Italy to develop a sixth-generation aircraft engine.
"We were also part of a joint program where GE and Rolls-Royce together developed an engine specifically for the fifth generation F-35, which is another example of recent engine development, particularly in the thrust range or even above the thrust range that India is looking to build," Mukundan said.
The F 136 engine was the only engine specifically developed for the F-35 aircraft, with engine development led by GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce.
The executive vice president sounded bullish on India and especially pointed out the Indian government's "visible focus" on building indigenous capability across naval, land, and air domains.
"Over the long term, India will be a major global power. And India is increasingly supporting others in the Global South. For us, there is a lot to work with, and it is all linked."
"It's not just about market access; India is one of the few places where all the pieces genuinely fit together."
"For Rolls-Royce, that makes India not just an important market, but a long-term strategic home," he said.
