"I can´t tell you a lie. Medals in Asiad is beyond what we are capable of ," said Shrestha. "In terms of badminton, Asiad is almost like world championship since top ranking countries are from Asia." [break]
"Our players will get exposure and will face some of the toughest world players and we are preparing for Asiad to lift our international ranking," Uday explained.
Ratnajeet Tamang and Sujana Shrestha from the Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Bikash Shrestha of the Nepal Police Club as well as Sara Devi Tamang from the Nepal Army will vie in the Asian sports extravaganza scheduled for November 12-27 in Guangzhou, China.
Nepal is participating only in individual events of badminton.
After the completion of selection tournament, players have participated in the National Badminton Championship and Nepal Police Badminton Championship. Bikash Shrestha won the men´s singles title in the National Badminton Championship but lost in the quarterfinal of the latter tournament. Meanwhile, other three also were not in their best form during the two tournaments.
"They had sustained injuries during the tournaments and have recovered now," said Shrestha. "Doctors have cleared them and I hope they will do well."
Badminton tournaments have seeding-by-ranking system. "We can lift the ranking by participating in such big tournaments and it will help us achieve medals in the smaller international tournaments," explained coach Shrestha.
Shrestha is satisfied over the progress of players during the training. "Selected players are practicing with their national opponents in the training," he said.
"Their (selected players) tough opponents at national level like Sajan Krina Tamrakar, Indra Mahata and Bishal Tamrakar are joining them as training partners and it is boosting their morale."
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