KATHMANDU: A 15-member basketball team, including 12 players, is on Wednesday leaving for the Maldives to take part in the fifth South Asian Basketball Championship slated to be held in Male from May 19-23.

Skipper Sadish Pradhan will lead the team that also includes Saurabh Shrestha, Ajay Kushwaha, Binod Maharjan, Binod  Shrestha, Ketan Khadka, Mabindra Bhandari, Bikram Joshi, Rabin Khatri,  Ashim Shrestha, Bijay Burja and Ayush Singh. Coach Dinesh Chandra Nakarmi, team manager Phanindra Man Shrestha and referee Raj Kumar  Maharjan will accompany the players to Male. The Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka,  India and Bangladesh will compete in the round robin tournament  with the winners earning berth in the FIBA Asia Cup which will be  held in Lebanon in August. President of Nepal Olympic Committee Jeevan Ram Shrestha among bade farewell to the team.