Nepal has been placed in group B in the six-team contest, which has Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as other teams in the group, in the first edition of event scheduled to kick off on Monday at Dasharath Stadium. In other group match, home team will play against Sri Lanka on Saturday.[break]
In curtain raiser, India will play against Pakistan in the group A match on Monday. Maldives is the other team in group A.
Top two among three teams from each group will qualify for the semifinal stage after round robin group matches. Only one match will be played on each day until group stage which ends on August 10. All matches will be placed at Dasharath Stadium.
Squad
Nepal has finalized the names of 23-member squad for the event under the captainship of Heman Gurung.
Goalkeepers: Birendra Chand, Brijesh Singh and Alan Neupane; Defenders: Sanjay Rajbahak, Aaditya Chaudhary, Bishwas Shrestha, Bibek Basnet, Anjan Lakhaju and Nabin Gurung; Midfielders: Heman Gurung, Rungri Hang Rai, Sagar Lama, Firon Magrati, Shikharmani Kafle, Umesh Thapa, Pramal Thapamagar and Yugal Pandey; Forwards: Rishi Thapamagar, Anil Gurung, Krishnaraj Lama, Suraj Hamal, Suman Lama and Suraj Kumar Rai.
Preparations complete
The organizers, All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), on Monday said it has completed all the preparations for the SAFF U-16 Championship.
At a press conference in the capital on Monday, ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan said the ticket price for each match is Rs 100 and Rs 300 for open and VIP stands respectively.
ANFA has banned taking any materials other than raincoat in the stadium due to security reasons. As host, ANFA will get $6,000 each from five participating teams. The expected cost of the event is Rs 3 million.
Tough time in getting Challenge Cup
Speaking at the same press meet, ANFA President Ganesh Thapa said that Nepal had a tough time securing the chance to host the final round of AFC Challenge Cup scheduled for April 2012. Along with Nepal, Maldives and Palestine, which boast of better infrastructure than Nepal, had also filed their bids to host the final round of tournament.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee meeting in Malaysia on Friday had decided to allow Nepal to host the final round. However, AFC had set some conditions for organizing the event in Nepal.
"AFC has asked us to upgrade the physical infrastructure and conditions of ground to host the final round," Thapa said. "But ANFA cannot do this single-handedly and we need support of all sides including the government, Ministry of Youth and Sports and National Sports Council."
Awards to be announced in a month
Thapa on the same occasion hinted of declaring the name of winner of Rupak Memorial Award and the Best Footballer of 2067 BS in a month. ANFA has announced to provide a flat to the Best Footballer of 2067 BS. But ANFA has yet to name the best player.
Similarly, ANFA has not announced the name of Rupak Memorial Award winners since 2064 BS though the award is supposed to be given every year.
"Awarding player is not a big deal. We were busy in bigger projects than awarding players. We will let you know about awards within a month. All the winners of Rupak Memorial will be announced at once," Thapa assured.
Today´s match
India Vs Pakistan at 15:30 NST
Venue: Dasharath Stadium
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