POKHARA, Feb 2: The 18th edition of Aaha Rara Gold Cup football competition is set to begin on March 5. The organizer Sahara Club announced that the Pokhara Stadium’s football ground will be used to host the prestigious competition of Gandaki Province.
The tournament has been reduced by two teams from the upcoming edition after hosting 12 teams in each of the former editions. All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), the apex football body of Nepal, has reduced the tournament length to 10 days which prompted the event organizers to reduce the number of participating teams.
Similarly, the completion of under-construction Pokhara Stadium’s football ground remains uncertain after the supervision team is yet to handover the ground to National Sports Council (NSC).
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The president of Sahara Club, Keshav Bahadur Thapa assured that the ground will be completed before the tournament starts in March. It had hosted the women’s international football matches during the 13th South Asian Games held in December last year.
The organizing team is in negotiation with football clubs from Bhutan and India for possible participation in the competition, informed Thapa.
An amount of Rs 11.8 million is targeted as profit from the tournament which will be used to raise 25 orphans of Sahara Academy, taking care of their education, food and accommodation.
The main sponsor of the tournament, Him Shree Foods’ managing director Prakash KC has expressed the opportunity as a proud moment for the brand.
The Sahara Club UK is set to provide the individual awards including player-of-the-match trophy, best player, fair play trophy, etc for the tournament.
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