He was in the same role in the Asia Cup on January in Qatar. [break]
The Korean is in Nepal with his team. However, his team has only three players from the World Cup squad and the current team has only half of its players with the experience of Asia Cup. DPR Korea are in Kathmandu to play AFC Challenge Cup group D qualifiers from Thursday to Monday.
"We have organized a new team, which includes youngsters, for this tournament," said Ra in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday. "We have only three players from the World Cup squad. Ri Kwang Chon, Ri Myong Guk and Park Nam Choel are the three players from the squad," he added.
DPR Korea will face Sri Lanka in their opener on the Armed Police Force´s Halchowk Ground on Thursday and take on hosts Nepal and Afghanistan on Saturday and Monday respectively.
"We are a national team of DPR Korea and we regard this tournament very important. We want to be the best and qualify for next round of the Challenge Cup," said Ra.
He claimed that they would come up with surprising tactics against each opponent.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka assistant coach Damodaran Chandrashree also claimed that his team does not want to lose matches.
"Nobody wants to lose matches and we are not an exception," said Damodaran. "We have a very tough match tomorrow (Thursday) but we are hoping to perform well," he added.
Damodaran claimed that his team is full of young players and some experienced players in the line-up.
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