Kathmandu, October 23:

A 16-member Nepali team today left for Macau to participate in the second Asian Indoor Games to be held in Macau from October 26 to November 4.

In all, nine players will take part in five disciplines — Athletics, Bowling, Chess, Snooker and Swimming. Athletes Santosh Shrestha and Chhaya Khatri will participate in 60m hurdles and 1,500m respectively, while Tik Bahadur Gurung and Raj Kumar Ranjit will play in individual and team games in bowling. Bilam Lal Shrestha and Keshav Shrestha will take part in chess, while cueists Niroj Thapa and Saroj Mulmi will participate in snooker tournament. The only swimmer, Bibidha Rimal will swim in the 50m-breaststroke event.

National Sports Council (NSC) member secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha is the chef-de-mission and NSC board member Bijay Rai is the team leader. Bijay Shahi is the coach-cum-manager of bowling, while Sarbagya Bajracharya, Shanta Ratna Maharjan and Ratna Maharjan are the officials in snooker. Rajman Tuladhar is the technical official in swimming and Kaushal Shrestha is official in chess.

NSC member secretary Shrestha, who will leave for Macau on Wednesday, and NSC vice president Sita Ram Maskey bade farewell to the team. “We are sending a small contingent to Macau as the government rejected the budget demanded by the NSC,” said Shrestha at the programme.