“We were bound to pull out of the tournament due to managerial and financial problems,” said Lalit Krishna Shrestha, vice-president and spokesperson of ANFA. [break]
“The participanting countries have to pay $ 20,000 to the host and we didn’t have proper training. We were supposed to make arrangements for the team’s travel as well. We are spending a huge amount of money on senior team’s tour of South East Asian countries,” Shrestha told Republica.
The team had started the training for the qualifiers from August 23 under coach Kishor KC.
ANFA President Ganesh Thapa defended Nepal’s withdrawal from the tournament, saying that the move will be fruitful for the Nepali team in the long run. “It is not only ANFA’s decision to pull out of the tournament but also of the coach and the manager,” Thapa said on Saturday at the farewell of the national team, which left for a four-nation South East Asia tour.
But U-19 coach Kishor KC said that pulling out of the tournament was a disciplinary action for the team. “ANFA President Thapa had on October 1 informed the players that they would get only two days leave for Dashain. But some players had already left for home for Dashain after September 28 (Ghatasthapana) and many others had their tickets ready.”
“President Thapa had come for the inspection of the training on October 3. But not a single player was present in the training as almost all of them had left for their homes. Thus, the misunderstanding between players and ANFA officials resulted in the withdrawal of the team from the qualifiers,” KC told Republica.
“The decision was made after a meeting between coach (KC), president, vice-presidents and team manager,” KC said.
When asked if the team had quit from the tournament due to fear of losing against the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Oman, he said, “We knew we have to face strong opponent as soon as the fixture was released and we have prepared accordingly. We have not pulled out due to fear of losing. Personally, I am very much disappointed for pulling out of the event despite more than one and half months.”
Nepal was pitted against Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Bangladesh and Maldives in group A. Top two teams of the group will make it the final round.
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