By a Staff Reporter
The Nepali Youth team has left to Bhubaneswar, India to compete in the SAFF U-20 Men’s Championship starting from 25th July.
The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) bade farewell to the Nepali U-20 team on Friday amidst a program in Kathmandu. National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Tanklal Ghising, ANFA President Pankaj Bikram Nemwang, General Secretary Kiran Rai, Senior Vice President Bir Bahadur Khadka, Vice President Deepak Khatiwada, Treasurer Rabindra Joshi, Members Mahendra Bahadur Chhetri and Sarila Shrestha were present in the program.
Member Secretary Ghising said he is confident that the team will return back to Nepal with a trophy. “We have faith in our coach. I urge you to choose further better players in the upcoming days. The players have got the good opportunity to showcase their talents. I request all the players to play from their heart and make the whole country proud. This game is also important to players as this can open the doors to the senior team,” Ghising said.
“I would also like to instruct ANFA to continue the age group competition. I heard that they are preparing to hold a youth football tournament. Let’s hope that regardless of what incident took place in its last meeting, ANFA’s activities will pick up speed as soon as possible,” Ghsing added.
ANFA president Pankaj Bikram Nembang conveyed his best wishes to the team. “I wish the team all the best. I expect good results from this team as I have witnessed the hard work done by the team. This is the first international competition we are participating in after the newly elected working committee came into action. We are hoping for a good result,” Nembang said.
Hosts India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will vie 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
