Kathmandu, March 3:

Four-time defending champions Nepal are pitted in Group ‘A’ as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the ACC Under-19 Elite Cup fixtures on Monday.

Nepal are drawn with Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia for the April 22 to May 1 biennial tournament to be held in Kuwait. Group ‘B’ includes 2007 finalists Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman and Bhutan.

The winners of the 10-nation ACC tournament will go forward to represent the Asia region in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup to be held in Kenya. “The U-19 Elite competition is strongly competitive. Most teams will be trying to defeat Nepal. It will surely be an interesting tournament,”

ACC Events Executive KK Haridas told the ACC website today.

Saudi Arabia and Bhutan are the new-comers to the elite section. Both teams qualified after

making it to the final of the ACC U-19 Challenge Cup in 2008 when Saudi Arabia won the title.

Nepal will open their defence of the title with a match against Saudi Arabia on April 22 before playing Hong Kong on April 24. The four-time defending champions Nepal will next play against Malaysia on April 25 before wrapping up their league campaign with a match against Singapore on April 27.