Nepal disqualify for AFC U-16 Championship Finals as skipper found overage

KATHMANDU: Nepal's berth into the AFC U-16 Championship Finals to be held next year was cancelled after an Asian Football Confederation probe found that the team captain Manish Karki was overage.

An All Nepal Football Association source confirmed that Nepal have been disqualified for the regional tournament after the AFC probe recently found that Karki had crossed the age limit.

Likewise, the team would be fined over USD 10,000 for the offence, according to the ANFA source.

Nepal had made it to the AFC U-16 Championship Finals as the fourth best runners-up team in the qualifiers held in Kyrgyzstan in September.

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The Finals would be played in India from September 15 to October 2 in India next year.

Nepal had conducted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests of 11 players upon random selection to detect their ages and all the results had confirmed the requirement, the ANFA source said.

"The AFC selected eight players for the tests again," he said, "And, it found that Manish was overage."

MRI, a standard test, is used to scan the left wrist of a player for assessment of skeletal age.

The MRI is considered to be 99 per cent accurate until the age of 17, after which it becomes harder for medical professionals to calculate a person's age, according to medical literatures.

Uzbekistan, Oman, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Australia and Japan had earned tickets for the Finals as 11 group winners, while Vietnam, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates were the first three best runners-up teams.