NVA made the announcement at a press conference held in the capital on Friday. The event is the biggest volleyball tournament to be hosted by Nepal and will feature at least four teams from the South Asian region. [break]
Bhatta will succeed 45-year-old Shah, who was the captain of the national team for 16 years since 1996. Shah captained the national volleyball team for the last time at the 2011 Dhaka South Asian Games (SAG).
All members of the squad announced on Friday belong to departmental teams -- Nepal Police Club, Nepal Army Club and Armed Police Force (APF) -- including seven debutants in full court volleyball.
Seven players of the national squad -- skipper Bhatta, Milan Malla, Raj Bahadur Chaudhary, Mahendra Shrestha, Sunil Shrestha, Khusi Chaudhary and Pushpa Jung Malla -- belong to APF. Similarly, four players -- Kul Bahadur Thapa, Sanjay Aryal, Chandra Kunwar and Im Rana Magar are from Police while Raj Kumar Thapa is the only Army player in the squad.
Besides skipper Bhatta, Sanjay Aryal, Sunil Shrestha, Im Rana Magar and Khusi Chaudhary, all other players will be making their debuts for the national team in full court as Nepal has not participated in any international full court tournament since the Dhaka SAG.
According to NVA President Dan Bahadur Tamang, national teams of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan have confirmed participation for the tournament while Bangladesh is yet to take a final decision. "It has not been confirmed whether Bangladesh will participate or not," said Tamang. He also informed that India was not participating due to its busy schedule for the Asian Tournament while Pakistan did not respond to NVA´s invitation.
According to volleyball chief coach Kapil Kishor Shrestha, 27 players were called up for the national team training from May 19 on the basis of their performances in the national league held in the Nepali month of Chaitra. "The 12 best players were picked from among the 27 for the current national team," said Shrestha, adding that he is optimistic about Nepal´s title chances in the tournament.
"Sri Lanka is better than other teams competing in the tournament and if we beat it we could be optimistic for the title," said Shrestha, who lamented lack of international participation in the last three years. He also said that the national team was in good shape.
Newly-appointed skipper Bhatta is also hopeful of lifting the title. "We have been training for the past one-and-half months and our only target is to lift the title," said Bhatta.
Also at the press conference, FIVB referee Gautam Lachhiba released the technical handbook of the tournament while Nepal Army Lieutenant Colonel Prakash Jung Karki unveiled the tournament logo. According to Lachhiba, the tournament will be held in round robin format and the top two teams from the group stage will make it to the final.
The top three teams will be awarded with cash prizes of Rs 200,000, Rs 100,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.
On the occasion, Lieutenant Colonel Karki handed over financial support of Rs 120,000 to President Tamang for the tournament while former volleyball player Ranjan Khadka gave Rs 50,000.
According to President Tamang, the expected cost of hosting the tournament is Rs 3.8 million and the National Sports Council (NSC) has pledged to provide Rs 2 million. "We will raise the remaining amount from sponsors, supporters, ticket sales and from NVA officials," Tamang said.
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