By a Staff Reporter
The All Nepal Football Association – ANFA has appointed winger Aayush Ghalan as the captain of Nepal National U20 team to compete in SAFF U-20 Men’s Football Championship to be held in India.
Likewise, ANFA has included forward Rohit Subba in the final squad. According to ANFA, Subba was called in the team following the injury of Dipesh Rai who was included in the final 23-member squad earlier. Subba will travel to India with the team.
Subba made onto the 30-member team but he failed to make it into the final squad. Rai suffered an injury during a friendly match against the departmental side Tribhuvan Army Football Club. His right ankle got fractured. He is being treated at B&B Hospital in Gwarko currently. He will be out of action for at least three months. He will also miss the AFC U-20 Qualifiers to be held in Bahrain.
The regular member of the senior team Aayush Ghalan will lead the team in SAFF U-20. The Nepali team is set to leave for Bhubaneswar, India on Friday. Hosts India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will compete for the title.
The Nepali youth team will kick off the championship by playing against Maldives on July 25. Similarly, Nepal will take on Sri Lanka on July 27 and will face the home side India on July 31. Nepal will play its last match of round robin against Bangladesh on August 2. The top two teams will vie for the title on August 5.
Final squad:
Goalkeeper: Ishwor Gurung, Unesh Chaudhary, Jiyarath Seikh
Defenders: Amar Shrestha, Sonit Dahal, Aayush Shrestha, Ajay Chaudhary, Sumit Shrestha, Srijan Dhani, Roshan Thapa, Abhishek Waiba
Midfielders: Dipesh Gurung, Aashish Rai, Sandeep Karki, Janmajay Dhami, Mohit Gurung, Kritish Ratna Chhunju, Sugam Suwal, Managya Nakarmi, Aayush Ghalan
Forward: Rohit Subba, Niranjan Malla, Rohan Khadgi
Head Coach: Meghraj KC
Assistant Coach: Balgopal Sahukhal
Goalkeeping Coach: Ujwal Manandhar
Team Manager: Diwakar Ghale
Team Physiotherapist: Lokendra Kunwar
