Nepal to meet Saudi Arabia in U-19 opener

KATHMANDU, March 3: Nepal will meet Saudi Arabia in the curtain-raiser of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Elite Cup 2009 on April 22 in Kuwait.



The fixtures for the event that serves as the qualifier for the ICC U-19 World Cup 2010 in Kenya was released on Monday.[break]



Nepal is the four-time defending champions whereas Saudi Arabia qualified to play in the event winning the ACC U-19 Challenge Cup in 2008.



Nepal and Saudi Arabia are in Group A that also consists Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Group B of the event has Afghanistan, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bhutan.



In the league round, Nepal will then meet Hong Kong (April 24), Malaysia (April 25) and Singapore (April 27).



The semifinals between top two teams from each group will be on April 29 while May 1 is the big day for the final.



"The U-19 Elite competition is strongly competitive,” ACC Events Executive K K Haridas said. “Most teams will be trying to defeat Nepal. It will surely be an interesting tournament."



Nepal won the event in 2001 (Kathmandu, Nepal), 2003 (Karachi, Pakistan), 2005 (Kathmandu, Nepal) and 2007 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

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