The Nepalese U-14 football team has landed in Islamabad, Pakistan to take part in the U-14 Festival of Football that pits five countries- along with two teams from Pakistan- in the South Asian Zone being held at the Jinnah Stadium.

After going through a long journey which included two twelve hours transit on the way, the Nepalese boys felt a huge relief when they ate morning lunch at the mess of Pakistan Sports Board. Nepalese colts had to stay two hours at Delhi Airport and a whole night in Lahore.

It was huge mess-up when there wasn’t any facility of night stay at Lahore, but finally, with the co-ordination between Pakistan Football general secretary Arshad Lodhi, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) arranged night-stay at the newly-built Football Academy.

The team left Lahore at 6 a.m. for Islamabad, minus coach Kishor KC and two referees Rajesh Shrestha and Bimal Prajapati who missed their flight due to a delay at Delhi Airport. The Nepalese team arrived at Islamabad at 10 a.m. The coach and referees are coming via road through an arrangement made by PFF.

The team was given a warm welcome by tournament co-ordinator and AFC Youth Development officer Jita Singh and the Pakistani people as the first team to arrive there.

The organizing committee will hold a head coaches seminar this evening. The Nepalese team will have a training session following the workshop of head coaches. (Bikram Thapa from Islamabad) nepalnews.com Apr 18 06