U-18 squad announced

Lalitpur, September 17

The All Nepal Football Association today announced the 23-member squad for the SAFF U-18 Championship slated for September 20-29 at the Nepal APF Headquarters grounds in Halchowk.

Head coach Chet Narayan Shrestha axed goalkeeper Rohit Karki and midfielder Dipesh Gurung from the 25-member team after the eight-day camp held in Pokhara. Goalkeepers Bishal Sunar, Surya Adhikari and Pujan Hona made the cut in the final squad along with defenders Bishal Basnet, Randip Poudel, Padam Bhattarai, Sujan Sharma, Nabin Gurung, Roshan Dong, Alik Rumba and Anjal Maharjan.

Coach Shrestha named seven midfielders — Sishir Lekhi, Roshan Rana Magar, Akash Buda Magar, Jaya Gurung, Manish Thapa, Kushal Phuyal and Nitin Thapa — in the team and five forwards — Brijesh Chaudhary, Sachu Gurung, Kailash Lamichhane, Darshan Gurung, Manish Dangi. Coach Shrestha is yet to announce the skipper.

A total of six South Asian nations are taking part in the tournament. Nepal are in Group A along with Bhutan and Maldives, while India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in Group B. Nepal will open the campaign with a match against Maldives on September 20, while the home team will face Bhutan two days later. Top two teams from both the groups will advance to the semi-finals slated for September 27, while the third-place and final matches are scheduled for September 29.

Meanwhile, ANFA said the preparations were completed to host the tournament. ANFA had formed the organising committee under its vice-president Bir Bahadur Khadka. According to Deputy General Secretary Arun Man Joshi, the estimated cost of the tournament is Rs 19 million and South Asian Football Federation would provide the organisers with $160,000. “We will manage the rest of the amount from internal source of ANFA,” he said. The ANFA has set Rs 500 as the ticket price for spectators.

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