KATHMANDU:A meeting of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today decided to extend Nepal’s Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dias’ contract. “In view of the recent success in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-V, the contract of the coach (Dias) has been extended,” said CAN President Binay Raj Pandey, without specifying the extension period. With the decision Dias — who has been looking after the Nepali cricket since September 7, 2001 — is set to coach the national team at least until the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-IV slated for August 14-21 in Italy. His contract was due to expire at the end of this month. The six-team tournament also includes the USA, Argentina, Cayman Islands, Tanzania and hosts Italy. The meeting also decided to give a ‘graceful retirement’ to the long-serving curator Komal Pandey. “He has been serving the Nepali cricket for long but, keeping in mind his deteriorating health and age, we have decided to give him the graceful retirement,” he said. According to Pandey, the meeting also dwelt on the ways to make Nepal’s Division-IV campaign a success. “We mainly discussed on the ways to the proper preparation for Division-IV,” said Pandey. The CAN head said that the team needs maximum exposure ahead of their participation in the Italy tournament. “We are already in talks with various teams in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” added the CAN President. “We are trying to invite two to three teams from Delhi, Kolkata or an Academy team of Bangladesh in May-June,” said Pandey. CAN is also planing to send the Nepali team to either Sri Lanka or Banglalore for a three-week camp in July. The meeting also unanimously decided to replace Arun Kumar Aryal with Bijay Kumar Sharma as the chief selector. Sharma, who had a three-year stint as the the chief selector previously, was re-appointed after Aryal decided to step down. The other two members of the committee, Raju Khadka and Damodar Gautam, have been retained. CAN also decided to grade the umpires in four categories. Umpires will enjoy the benifits in accordance to their grades. Among the other notable decisions were to hold Senior National in May and U-19 Women’s Tournament. The successful bidder among the six regions will get the hosting rights of the Senior National Cricket.