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Kathmandu, NEPAL – Maldives captain Ali Ashfaq has scored double hat-trick against Sri Lanka yesterday in the ongoing SAFF Championship and broke the record of the all time top scorer of the tournament.

The 28 year old striker nicknamed as the Iron Man scored three goals in 2005 SAFF Championship (Two goals agaist Afghanistan and one goal against Sri Lanka) held in Karachi, Pakistan.

In the 2008 edition Ali Asfhaq failed to put his name on the score sheet but he was awaeded deservedly the most valuable player of the edition. In 2009 again he scored three goals. He scored two goals against Afghanistan in the group stage and scored a goal against Sri Lanka in the semi final of the tournament, which Maldives won by 5-1.

In the 2011th edition he scored two goals in the group stage against Nepal and Bangladesh.

India’s Vijayan was the previous record holder with 12 goals in three tournaments and his countryman Baichun Bhutia has scored 11 goals in the regional tournament. But Ashfaq’s double hat trick against Sri Lanka helped him to lead the top scorer position with 14 goals.

With the help of Ashfaq’s double hat trick against Sri Lanka Maldives became the first ever team to score 10 goals in one match in the SAFF Championship.

Ashfaq has scored incredible 48 goals this season so far and this is the first time that a Maldivian player ever has scored this much in a single season. And he is clearly on track to become the first player in Maldives to score a half century of goals in one season.