The event, already declared as last of this age-group by ACC, will feature nine nations. Nepal is in Group A along with Qatar, Singapore, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Group B consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE and Malaysia, according to the tie-sheet published by ACC.[break]
Nepal will next meet Saudi Arabia at TU Grounds, Kirtipur on February 5; Singapore at BSAM Ground, Bhaktapur on February 7 and Hong Kong on February 8 at TU Grounds.
“We have all tough opponents and especially Singapore and Hong Kong are very good,” Nepal’s national coach Roy Dias said after learning about the tie-sheet.
The semifinals of the event are scheduled for February 11 while the final will be played on February 13.
Nepal has reached the semifinal of the last ACC U-17 Cup 2005 in Malaysia but the event was cancelled at that stage after haze from Indonesia’s forest fire blanketed Kuala Lumpur. Nepal was playing Kuwait when the event was suspended. Singapore and Bahrain were other semifinalists.
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has already selected a pool of 30 players for the event. Those selected include Prithu Baskota, Rochak Bhatta, Ujjwal Thapa, Ayush Rana, Pawan Shrestha and Prajesh Bahadur Singh from Region No 3 Kathmandu. Pradeep Ayree and Bhuwan Karki are only representatives from runners-up Region No 6 Baitadi.
From Region No. 1 Biratnagar, Aditya Shrestha and Aman Bahadur Thapa have been named while from Region No. 2 Birgunj, Akash Singh Pariyar, Sahnawaz Ali, Avinash Karn, Bibek Dali and Samir Nepal have been selected. Sagar Pun, Krishna Karki, Nischal Chaudhari, Aman Deep Singh, Nirmal Thapa, Kriten Gurung and Krishna Sen have been selected from Region No. 4 Bhairahawa while from Region No. 5 Nepalgunj, Pratik Singh and Nawaraj Shahi have been picked.
ACC U-17 Elite Cup 2009 Schedule
| Venue | : | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Dates | : | 4 - 13 February 2009 |
| GROUP A | GROUP B | |
| Singapore | Bahrain | |
| Nepal | Kuwait | |
| Qatar | UAE | |
| Saudi Arabia | Malaysia | |
| Hong Kong |
| Match Schedule: | ||
| February 4 | Nepal v Qatar at Engineering Ground Hong Kong v Singapore at T U Ground Bahrain v Kuwait at BSAM Ground | |
| February 5 | Nepal v Saudi Arabia at TU Ground Malaysia v UAE at Engineering Ground Hong Kong v Qatar at BSAM Ground | |
| February 6 | Kuwait v Malaysia at TU Ground Saudi Arabia v Singapore at Engineering Ground | |
| February 7 | Bahrain v UAE at TU Ground Nepal v Singapore at BSAM Ground | |
| February 8 | Nepal v Hong Kong at TU Ground Qatar v Saudi Arabia at Engineering Ground Bahrain v Malaysia at BSAM Ground | |
| February 9 | Qatar v Singapore at TU Ground Kuwait v UAE at Engineering Ground Hong Kong v Saudi Arabia at BSAM Ground | |
| February 11 | SF1: A1 v B2 at TU Ground SF2: A2 v B1 at Engineering Ground 7th/8th Playoff at BSAM Ground | |
| February 12 | 3rd/4th Playoff at Engineering Ground 5th/6th Playoff at BSAM Ground | |
| February 13 | FINAL at TU Ground | |
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