By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal’s U-20 football coach Meghraj KC has selected 30 players in the second phase of selection for the upcoming SAFF U-20 Championship and the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers.
KC shortlisted the team from among 41 players selected in the first phase. A total of 11 players didn’t make it to the second round after about a month of training.
The 11 players who were left out of the squad include Amar Bahadur Newar, Top Bahadur Rana, Jaam Tamli, Khem Raj Shrestha, Pradeep Lamsal, Sanjeev Lama, Rakesh Bishwakarma, Binaya Basnet Chhetri, Raju Bhushal, Maldina Angthupo and Jabindra Bhattarai.
The U-20 SAFF championship will be held in India from July 25 to August 3. Nepal will face the Maldives in its opening match on July 25 followed by a match against Sri Lanka on July 27. Nepal will then take on India on July 31 and Bangladesh on August 2.
Likewise, the AFC U-20 Asia Cup Qualifiers will be held in Bahrain from September 10 to 18. Nepal will face Bhutan, Qatar, Bahrain, and Bangladesh during the qualifiers on September 10, September 12, September 14 and September 18 respectively.
30 players selected in the second round
Goalkeepers: Ishwar Gurung, Yunesh Chaudhary, Saurav Karki and Jiyarath Sheikh
Defenders: Akib Haque, Amar Shrestha, Sonit Dahal, Aayush Shrestha, Ajay Chaudhary, Sumit Shrestha, Ashwin Bhattarai, Shreejan Dani, Roshan Thapa and Raj Thoker.
Midfielders: Abhishek Waiba, Dipesh Gurung, Aashish Rai, Chitiz Bhandari, Sandeep Karki, Janmajaya Dhami, Mohit Gurung, Kritish Ratna Chunju, Pritam Syangtan, Suman Suwal, Managya Nakarmi and Aayush Ghalan
Forward: Dipesh Rai, Niranjan Malla, Rohan Khadgi and Rohit Subba
