Sabitra Bhandari alias Samba, forward of Nepali women’s football team completed 50 international goals.
On Thursday, during the WAFF Women’s Championship in Saudi Arabia, she scored five goals against Iran and completed the 50 international goals.
Before this in the same championship, when Nepal defeated Iran by 4-1, she scored one goal.
After scoring six goals in two matches, she sets the record of becoming the first Nepali footballer to complete 50 international goals.
Popularly known as a Goal Machine, SAbBhandari first made her international debut goal in 2014 during SAFF Women’s Championship, against Bhutan.
Along with the SAFF Championship, Sabitra Bhandari has also scored goals in the South Asian Games, Olympic qualifiers, Hero Women’s World Cup, Nadezda Gold Cup and various international friendlies.
She has scored 19 goals in four South Asian Championships. Similarly, she scored five goals in two South Asian Games.
While playing two Olympic qualifiers, she scored four goals. Likewise, she scored four goals in 2019 during the Hero Gold Cup in India. In the same, during the Nadezda Gold Cup in Kyrgistan, Bhandari scored seven goals.
With that, she has scored five goals in friendlies; two against Malaysia and Indian and one against Bangladesh.
Samba scored the most goals against Bhutan with 9 goals, following seven goals against Maldives.
The hat trick against Iran was her fifth hat trick of an international career. Before this, she scored a two-time hat trick against Maldives and a hat trick against Bhutan and Kyrgistan.
She scored a double hat trick in a match against Bhutan when she scored her first hat trick in the SAFF Women’s Championship in India in 2016. In the same championship, he scored another hat trick with a total of five goals.
In 2019, during the Nadezda Gold Cup. she scored another hat trick against Kyrgistan. During the 13th SAG Games in Pokhara the same year, she scored a hat trick against Maldives.
| Games | Goals |
| SAF Championship 2014 | 1 |
| South Asian Games 2016 | 2 |
| SAF Championship, 2016 | 12 |
| Olympic Qualifier First Round 2019 | 1 |
| Hero Gold Cup 2019 | 4 |
| Olympic Qualifier Second Round 2019 | 2 |
| Nadezda Gold Cup 2019 | 7 |
| Friendlies of 2016 and 2017 against Malaysia | 2 |
| South Asian Games 2019 | 3 |
| SAFF Championship 2022 | 2 |
| Friendlies 2023 | 3 |
| Olympic Qualifier 2023 | 1 |
| WAFF Championship, 2024 | 6 |
