Lalitpur, May 2:

Manang Marsyangdi Club is leaving for Bangkok on Wednesday for a week-long training to prepare for the upcoming second AFC President’s Cup Football Tournament in Malaysia on May 10-21.

All Nepal Football Association president Ganesh Thapa bade farewell to the Martyrs’ Memorial national league champions today. MMC will play a couple of practice matches against the local clubs before leaving for Kuching, Malaysia.

National league champions of eight countries will participate in the tournament. MMC is pitted in Group B along with last year’s runner-up Dordoi-Dynamo of Kyrgyzstan, FC Vakhsh of Tajikistan and Ratnam Sports Club of Sri Lanka. Group A comprises Pakistan Army, Khemara of Cambodia, Bhutan’s Transport United and Tatung of Chinese Taipei.

Regar-Tadaz of Tajikistan will not be defending its title after the club failed to win the league to qualify for the championship. Top two teams from both the groups will advance to the last four.

MMC will open their campaign with a match against Ratnam Sports Club on May 11, and will play against FC Vakhsh on May 13 and Dordoi-Dynamo on May 15. The semi-finals will be held on May 17 and the final is scheduled for May 21.

MMC will be playing with five new players after their long-time skipper Kumar Thapa, star striker Basanta Thapa and goalkeeper Bikash Malla left the club after the league.

Coach Chhiring Lopsang Gurung lamented of not being able to set the team yet. He is, however, optimistic about the prospect of playing few practice matches in Bangkok. “That will help us find the rhythm before playing in the tournament,” Gurung said.

Nabil Three Star Club participated in the first edition of the tournament held in Kathmandu and had tremendous success before being eliminated by the eventual winners Dordoi Dynamo of Kyrgyzstan in tie-breaker in semi-final.

SQUAD: Tashi Tsering (cap), Anil Gurung, Raj Kumar Ghising, Nabin Neupane, Basanta Gauchan, Umesh Upreti, Sandip Rai, Prashant Giri, Pravesh Katuwal, Nirajan Khadka, Ritesh Khadka, Khum Gurung, Sanjay Gurung, Pankaj Lama, Tilak Gurung, Sagar Thapa, Sangeet Rajak (gk) and Sachin Shrestha (gk).