KATHMANDU: The national basketball team is set to play five practice matches against the A Division clubs of Thailand during their 10-day training programme in Bangkok from January 15 to 25.

The Nepal Basketball Association (NeBA) senior vice-president Narendra Thapa informed that apart from the training, the national team will compete with the top flight basketball clubs in Bangkok. "The teams are yet to be finalised but the Olympic Committee of Thailand have assured us of providing the A Division clubs during the training period," said Thapa.

The 12-member national team will be leaving for Thailand on Friday. Nepali coach Dinesh Nakarmi said his camp is excited with the programme and most importantly to gain the experience playing with the the tough opponents.

"We last went to Patiyala for training in 2005 but we didn't get good teams and the weather was also unfavourable for us. We will be playing with the tough teams in Bangkok which will be an advantage for going into the 11th South Asian Games slated for January 29 to February 9 in Dhaka," said the coach.

"Getting assistance from expert coaches and playing against the top flight clubs would be good for our team which is really in need of international exposure," added the coach. The Nepali team includes Bipendra Maharjan, Bijaya Khatri, Yukta Ram Bhakta Mathema, Manoj Sherchan, Karma Gurung, Rabindra Maharjan, Sanjaya Byanjankar, Amir Ghale, Binod Shrestha, Sadish Pradhan, Bikram Joshi ad Binod Maharjan.

Chief coach Nakarmi and assistant coach Nagendra Poudel will join the team along with manager Narendra Thapa. Reserved players Ajay Manandhar and Rajeev Joshi will not accompany the team to Thailand as the duo has already missed most of the training sessions in Kathmandu.

The Olympic Committee of Bangkok (OCB) had accepted the request of the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) for the training programme. "The NOC initiated for the programme with the OCB following our (NeBA) request of foreign training," informed Thapa.