Led by Gyanendra Malla, Nepali Under-17 team today left for Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia to participate in the U-17 Asia Cup cricket tournament beginning August 4.
Nepal will take on Afghanistan on August 5 and Brunei on August 6. The top two teams from the group of three nations will progress into the quarterfinals – to be held on August 10. The semifinals and final will be held on August 11 and August 13 respectively.
Assistant Minister of Education and Sports Senate Shrestha, National Sports Council member secretary Kishore Bahadur Singh, Cricket Association of Nepal president Jai Kumar Nath Shah, vice-president Sri Niwas Rana, general secretary Laxman Prasad Bastola, treasurer Predeep Kumar Karki and other CAN members bode farewell to the team and wished them good luck.
Talking to NepalCricket.com before leaving, coach Roy Dias hoped that Nepal would play better and win the tournament. “For every team, the target is winning,†Dias said. “We will play every match to win.â€Â
Dias however also expressed that it would be a tough tour. “It’s very tough tour because some issues held back the selection of the team and we couldn’t prepare well,†he added. “Everything was in rush.â€Â
Captain Gyanendra Malla hoped of better performance to live up with the earlier performance of Nepal. “Our preparation hasn’t been good enough but we will play good,†he said.
Besides Gyanendra and U-15 Dream Team member Deepen Shrestha, every other player is playing their first international tournaments.
The team: Gyanendra Malla, Deepen Shrestha, Govinda Karki, Eraj Shrestha, Sujeen Adhiakri, Sunam Gautam, Nirjal Chhetri, Sushant Thapa, Rajan Khadgi, Abinash Bikram Shah, Bijaya Bhattarai, Bikrant Singh, Nirmal Simangaida, Prabesh Shrestha, Roy Dias (coach), Kiran Rana (manager), Pradeep Raj Pandey (assistant coach) and Roshan Singh Raut (media official, Nepal Sports Journalists Forum).
Talk what do you thing about Nepal’s performance in the tournament here.
Photo Courtesy: National Sports Council