KATHMANDU, March 21: Given the unavailability of Dasharath stadium, Nepal’s first home match of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers against Yemen scheduled on June 13 will be played at Armed Police Force (APF)’s Halchowk stadium.

As the only international stadium of the country, damaged by earthquake is unlikely to be ready by that time All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has started the work to make Halchowk ready.

“APF has already given us the permission to conduct the match at Halchowk stadium so now we will start maintenance of the ground from Wednesday in order to make it ready by the match date,” said Indraman Tuladhar, CEO of ANFA.

However the remaining home matches of the qualifiers are yet to be fixed according to Tuladhar. “For now we have decided to host the first match against Yemen at halchowk but we are expecting Dasharath stadium to be ready to hold the remaining home matches,” added Tuladhar.

Beside the ground ANFA also looking to build the additional parapet at halchowk. “We are planning to build additional parapet at the stadium but the descriptive plan is yet to be formed. Parapet we are eyeing to build will be fixed as AFC won’t recognize temporary one,” informed Tuladhar. 

ANFA had submitted memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal seeking the help to conduct fast track renovation of the Dasharath stadium, last month. However, the renovation work is not geared up. “We met National Sports Council (NSC)’s Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista yesterday about the renovation of the stadium. We are hopeful of the stadium to be ready by the second home match of the competition,” further added Tuladhar. 

Nepal will take on Tajikistan in its second home match of the qualifiers on September 5.

 
• afc asian cup
 
• home match
 
• halchowk