According to chief coach and NeBA Treasurer Dinesh Nakarmi, Nepal´s national squad will vie for the title against seven other South Asian teams, including two of the host Bangladesh.[break]
Nakarmi informed that the training going on in the capital would last for about two months. "This is the initial phase. In the next step, we will select 15 players and finally pick 12 before heading to Dhaka," said Nakarmi.
In their last international outing, Nepal had lost to Bangladesh in a the third place play-off match during the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) in February 2010.
Coach Anmol Rai claimed that they would send a better team to Dhaka than the previous one. "The players have improved their skills in the past one year and we have called in some new players with good physique."
Along with national captain Bipindra Maharjan, Rabindra Maharjan, Sadish Pradhan, Bikram Joshi, Yukta Bhakta Mathema, Binod Shrestha, Binod Maharjan, and Sushil Gurung are in the training. All these players have participated in the South Asian Games held at Dhaka. Amir Ghale, a member of national squad in the last international outing, is in the UK while Karma Gurung is not in the training camp.
Coach Rai will guide the team during the championship instead of chief coach Nakarmi, who will be leading Nepal´s U-14 team in Japan during the same period. U-14 players are visiting Japan for an invitational tournament, which will also help them prepare for the next Youth Olympics and FIBA U-16 Championship.
Senior Vice-president Narendra Thapa said that the Japan tour will go ahead as planned despite the ongoing crisis in Japan following an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. "We are in touch with the Japanese basketball officials who have assured us that the recent disaster will have no effect on the tournament," said Thapa.
Meanwhile, NeBA has stated that they cannot start closed-camp training for the Bangladesh tour. "Since we are sending U-14 squad to Japan, we´ll have a fund-crunch for closed-camp training. The National Sports Council is not supporting us in both the tours," added Nakarmi.
Cricket captain called in Parash Khadka, captain of the national cricket team, has also been called up for the training. Khadka has been a regular basketball player and has participated in national basketball championships and several inter-college basketball tournaments.
Coach Nakarmi said that Khadka was asked to join in for the training as he thought the skipper has good skills in basketball too. "Khadka is keen to participate in the training but he also has to take care of his role as a national level cricketer and in the Nepal APF Club," said Nakarmi.
Meanwhile, Khadka told Republica that he is keen to join basketball training but it all depends upon his cricket training schedule. "Since the Pepsi National Cricket Tournament is almost fixed for April, I´ll have to go through the training schedules and the tournament schedule of CAN (Cricket Association Nepal). If I can manage free time from cricketing duties, I´ll join the basketball training," he said.
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