Nepali national team´s coach Dinesh Nakarmi said he is unaware of Bhutan´s strengths and weaknesses as it is a new team. This is Bhutan´s debut international appearance and it may come up with some surprises, he added.[break]
"This will be a test for the Nepali team as they will face a new team in the tournament," coach Nakarmi said. He added he will play a balanced game in the first match. "Since we do not know the height and the physique of the opponents, we have to play a balanced game from inside and outside."
In the second match of the tournament, Nepal will take on Bangladesh. Nepal had defeated Bangladesh in the league round of the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) held in Dhaka last year but Nepal lost in the third place play-off by a narrow margin.
Captain Bipendra Maharjan is hopeful of winning the match against little-known Bhutanese team and is also upbeat about giving a tough challenge to Bangladesh. "We had defeated Bangladesh and also lost a match against them so it will be a 50-50 chance. But we are confident of winning the match as we have a stronger team than the previous one that competed in SAG."
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