KATHMANDU: Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today started the closed camp training in Pokhara for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup cricket tournament slated here from March 8 to 18.

The 18-member Nepali cricketers were taken to Pokhara due to the unavailibility of grounds here. Before the ACC U-16 Elite Cup, Nepal is set to host the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-V here on February 20-27. The Tribhuvan University grounds have been booked for practice sessions for the Div-V participating teams.

The CAN began the camp after Asian Cricket Council (ACC) gave

legitimacy to the 18-member Nepali team. CAN had sent X-ray reports of 33 cricketers to ACC for age verification but the Asian cricket governing body considered just 10 players legitimate to participate in the tournament.

Recently CAN sent X-ray reports of another 23 players and the ACC provided legitimacy to another

eight players. “Now that

we have 18 legitimate

players, we have started the closed camp,” said CAN secretary Tarak Mani Dixit here today.

Nepal have been drawn against Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain and Hong Kong in Group ‘A’ while Group ‘B’ comprises of Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. The age group tournament is the first event after ACC scrapped the U-17 and U-15 tournaments recently.