Spikers set for Asian Central Zone tourney

Kathmandu, March 19

Nepal national volleyball team is on Monday leaving for Maldives to participate in the Senior Asian Central Zone Championship to be held in Male from Wednesday.

EmRanaMagar will lead the side that includes open spikers Man BahadurShrestha, DhanaBahadurBhatta, KulBahadurThapa and DilSunar, while MahendraShrestha, Bhairav Bam and HariAdhikari are the quick spikers. Likewise, NarendraGiri and Raj Kumar Niraula are the side spikers, while skipper Magar and Durga Prasad Mahato are the setters and IshworThapaMagar is the libero.

Four players, DilSunar, HariAdhikari, Durga Prasad Mahato — who are in the Tribhuvan Army Club — and Nepal APF Club’s Raj Kumar Niraula are the new faces in the national team. BirendraChaudhary is the head coach, while JagadishBhatta is the assistant coach of the team. Nepal Volleyball Association Secretary DambarBahadur Nepali is the team manager, while international referee candidate Chandra BadanaRai will accompany the players to the Maldives.

Nepal will open the campaign with a match against Turkmenistan on March 23 and will face the hosts the next day. Nepal will play against Kyrgyzstan on March 27. Minister for Youth and Sports DaljitSripaili, NVA President Manoranjan Raman Sharma, Vice-president Yam BahadurGurung and General Secretary JitendraBahadur Chand among others bade farewell to the team today.