Each of the 17 members of the team and six officials were awarded Rs 10,000 each to boost their morale ahead of the upcoming youth world cup to be held in Bangladesh from January 22 to February 14. The team was honored for winning the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers to secure a place in the finals.Member secretary of the National Sports Council, newly established Cricket Board's president, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN)'s chief executive officer, foundation members, artists, players, coaches, sports journalist and business persons handed over the cash prizes and letter of appreciation during the function in Kathmandu.
Raju Rijal (skipper), Aarif Sheikh (vice-captain), Sunil Dhamala, Sandeep Sunar, Shankar Rana, Yogendra Karki, Rajbir Singh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Saurabh Khanal, Sushil Kandel, Prem Tamang, Dipesh Shrestha, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Kushal Bhurtel were the 14 players who won the title of the qualifiers held in Malaysia last year.
Similarly, Sandeep Lamichhane, Ishan Pandey and Himanshu Dutta are the players who have been included in the current world cup squad.
Likewise, Dhirendra Saud, the team manager for the qualifiers, and Sudeep Sharma, the manager for the world cup team, head coach Jagat Tamata, who led the team during the qualifiers and also the current U-19 coach Dinesh Bhatta, technical analyst for the both the events, Raman Shiwakoti, and Binod Das, the assistant coach for the world cup, were also felicitated during the program.
Meanwhile, head coach Tamata said that the team has taken the world cup as challenge.
"We have successfully climbed two steps and the world cup is the biggest challenge for us," said Tamata.
Similarly, team captain Raju Rijal said that the team is ready for the world cup following training in India.
"We had good training with practice matches and that has made us confident," said Raju after the program.
The team will leave for Bangladesh on January 20 to take part in the youth world cup.
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