The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has completed its final selection for the South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from August 14-28 declaring Ritesh Thapa the captain of the football team in Kathmandu on Friday.

Seven players were ousted from the squad and the final 20 rookies will pour their vigor in the SAG. Nepal have been drawn in Group B and will play Bangladesh on the inaugural day and take on India two days later and Afghanistan on August 19.

As expected, goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa was named the skipper of the squad and defender Sagar Thapa his deputy. ANFA member and president of Lalitpur FA Sunil Rana was nominated as the team manager.

Goalkeepers

Ritesh Thapa (MPC)
Sangeet Kumar Rajak(MMC)
Samit Rajbhandari (APF)

Defense

Sagar Thapa (MMC)
Lok Bandhu Gurung (NTSC)
Santosh Gurung (NTSC)
Sandeep Rai (MMC)
Anjan KC (NTSC)
Suman Subedi (MPC)

Mid Field

Vijay Gurung (NTSC)
Vishan Gauchan (NTSC)
Pradeep Maharjan (NTSC)
Raju Tamang (TAC)
Nirajan Khadka (MMC)
Man Sajan Rajbhandari (APF)
Jeevan Sinkeman (NRT)

Forward

Anil Gurung (NTSC)
Yugal Kishor Rai (NTSC)
Santosh Sahukhala (APF)
Jumanu Rai (MPC)

The selection was done by two coaches, Shyam Thapa and Yogumber Suwal. They dropped striker Jibesh Pandey due to over age, while influential defender Janak Singh Tharu was injured and failed to recover on time. Prashant Giri opted out of the camp for his board exam, while Rishi Rai, Bhola Silwal were dropped and Mani Kumar Pandit and Arjun Rijal didn’t show up at training.

The squad will leave for Bangkok on August 5 for final preparation. Nepal’s best run in the tournament came in the first SAF Games in Kathmandu in 1985 and sixth edition in Dhaka in 1993 when the footballers won gold medals.