Lalitpur, September 29

The All Nepal Football Association today bade farewell to the Nepal U-19 team that is travelling to Iran to participate in the AFC U-19 Qualifiers slated from October 2-6 in Mashad.

ANFA President Ganesh Thapa wished luck to the team and asked them to bring happiness on the faces of the people back home. “After the outstanding performance in the last month’s first SAFF U-19 Championship, I am confident that you will put in your best in the Qualifiers and earn a berth in the Finals,” said Thapa.

“As a team you have competed in many tournaments together and hope you will make the country proud.” Thapa said the boys were able to perform better than the countries who have invested a lot for the development of football. “Winning or losing are parts of the game, we expect good results from your side.”

Bimal Gharti will lead the side that also includes Sojit Gurung, Roman Rasaili, Dev Limbu, Ananta Tamang, Amit Tamang, Tshring Gurung, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Sudan Thapa, Hemant Thapa Magar, Kamal Shrestha, Dona Thapa, Tej Tamang, Kiran Sunar, Bishwas Shrestha, Shusan Lama, Sunil Bal, Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Sujit Gurung, Shiva Subedi and Janom Man Ligal.

Nepal are in Group E of the Qualifiers along with Iran, Kuwait and Jordan. Nepal will take on hosts Iran in the opening match on October 2, before playing against Kuwait two days later. Nepal will wrap up the campaign with a match against Jordan on October 6.

Coach Bal Gopal Maharjan have made two changes in the squad that won the first SAFF Championship. He brought in Siddartha Ranjit and Ram Chandra Wajee in place of Aakash Thapa and Gaurab Budathoki. Sunil Shrestha and Mrigrendra Mishra are the assist coaches, while Joint General Secretary Diwakar Ghale is the team manager and Raju Dahal is physio.