KATHMANDU: The Nepal Amateur Athletics Association (NAAA) today selected 56 athletes — 36 men and 20 women — for the first phase camp of the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in Dhaka early next year.

The NAAA picked the players as per their performances during the two-day tournament held at the Dasharath Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday. The selected players will undergo closed-camp training from October 2 to November 17, said NAAA General Secretary Rabi Raj Rajkarnikar.

The National Sports Council (NSC) had asked the NAAA to select 33 players but they 23 more. “The NSC had given us the quota of 33 players for the camp but we selected 56 as the events to be included in the SAG have not been finalised,” said Rajkarnikar. “The NSC will look after the training of 33 players, while we will be take care of the rest 23 athletes,” he added.

“If we go by the current list of events, only 19 athletes can participate in the 11th SAG and we have requested the organisers to add four events in men’s and five in women’s sections. We will prepare the final list of athletes for the Dhaka Games once the number of events are finalised,” he added.

The players for the upcoming two international events — third Asian Indoor Championship slated for October 31 to November 2 in Vietnam and 18th Asian Athletics Championship to be held in China from November 10-14 — will also be selected from the camp. “The athletes for the championships will be selected after the time trial on October 15,” said Rajkarnikar.

Out of the 36 in the men’s section, Tribhuvan Army Club have the largest share of athletes with 20 players, while Nepal Police Club, Nepal APF Club and Pokhara have seven, four and two players respectively. Nawalparasi, Chitwan and PLA have one each athletes in the camp. In women’s section, seven players are from APF, three each from Police and Nepalgunj and two from the PLA. Tribhuvan Army Club, Bhaktapur, Salyan, Pokhara and Dang have one player apiece in the camp.

“We will conduct a selection tournament after the first phase of training and the selected players will undergo another 42-day training from November 18 to December 29,” informed Rajkarnikar.