KATHMANDU: Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Friday named the final 14 players for the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Championship to be held in Malaysia from July 3-11. The team was picked by the National Selection Committee headed by Arun Kumar Aryal. Out of the 18 players, who were in the closed camp, four others are kept in the reserve list. Ritu Kanoujiya of Baitadi will lead the side in Nepal’s third international participation, while Nitu Thapa of Bhairahawa is the vice captain of the team. Others in the squad are Neera Rajopadhyaya and Sarita Magar of Kathmandu, Neri Thapa of Nepalgunj, Saraswoti Lamgade of Bhairahawa, Rekha Rawal, Manisha Rawal, Maya Rawat, Sonu Khadka and Janaki Bhatta of Baitadi, Rubina Chhetry, Rashmi Sharma and Ambika Budhathoki of Biratnagar. Jyoti Pandey (Biratnagar), Gita Chudal (Kathmandu) and Binu Budha Magar and Keshari Chaudhary (Nepalgunj) are named as the alternate players. Pradeep Raj Pandey of Biratnagar is the coach, while CAN member Binod Raj Rajbhandari is the team manager and Sarita Shrestha the assistant manager. Neri Thapa of Nepalgunj was the skipper in the previous two outings. Nepal won the ACC Under-19 Tournament in Singapore in 2008, while the Nepali team came second to Test-playing nation Bangladesh in the inaugural ACC Women’s Cricket Tournament in Malaysia in 2007. The Twenty20 event in Malaysia is also the selection tournament for the 2010 Asian Games. The top three will qualify for the 16th Asiad to be held in Guangzhou, China. If qualified, the team will create history by becoming the first ever Nepali team to qualify for the Asian Games. Nepal are drawn in Group A along with Thailand, Singapore, Qatar, Bhutan and Iran. Hosts Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UAE, China, Kuwait and Oman are in Group B. The top two teams from both the groups will advance to the semi-finals. Nepal will open their campaign with a match against Iran v Nepal at the Bayuemas Oval on July 3. They will face Singapore at the Selangor Turf Club the next day before playing against Nepal v Qatar at the Kinrara Oval on July 5. Nepal will face Bhutan on July 7 and Thailand on July 8. The semi-finals are slated for July 10, while the third-place playoff and final are on July 11.