Nepal Premier League: Kathmandu Gorkhas to face Sudurpaschim Royals today

The Kathmandu Gorkhas and the previous runner-up Sudurpashchim Royals are facing off against each other in a match under the ongoing Nepal Premier League (NPL) today.

While Kathmandu seek a second win, Sudurpaschim aim to make a victorious start of its first match of the second edition of NPL.

Kathmandu Gorkhas defeated the defending champions Janakpur Bolts in the opening match on Monday.

Karan KC  is the captain of Kathmandu Gurkhas and his team includes Bhim Sarki, Mohammad Adil Alam, Shahab Alam, Ben Charlesworth, Gerhard Erasmus, Dipesh Kandel, Milind Kumar, Rashid Khan, Uttam Thapa Magar (wicketkeeper), Sunny Patel, John Simpson (wicketkeeper), Pratik Shrestha, Akash Tripathi, Tul Bahadur Thapa, Ricardo Vasconcelos (wicketkeeper), Santosh Yadav and Sonu Devkota.

The captain of Sudurpaschim Royals is Deependra Singh Airee, who has also served as the vice-captain of the Nepal national team. 

The team under his leadership includes Vinod Bhandari (wicketkeeper), Avinash Bohara, Deepak Bohara (wicketkeeper), Milan Bohara, Josh Brown, Hemant Dhami, Scott Kugellin, Chris Lynn, Ishan Pande, Tek Rawat (wicketkeeper), Naren Saud, Harmit Singh, Arif Sheikh, Deependra Thapa (wicketkeeper) and Himmat Mahara.

Monty Desai, former coach of the Nepal national team, is in charge of Kathmandu's coaching, while Jagat Tamata is the coach of Sudurpaschim.

Eight teams are participating in the tournament organized by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) which started on November 17.

 

 

Fifa to probe Malaysian FA after players banned for forged documents

Fifa is set to launch a formal investigation into the internal operations of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), after the global football body suspended seven naturalised players of the national team over the alleged use of doctored documents, Reuters reported.

The players were banned for 12 months, after Fifa found that false documentation had been used so they could play in a 4-0 win over Vietnam in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in June.

Fifa said: “This investigation shall aim to identify the individuals responsible for the falsification of documents, assess the adequacy and effectiveness of FAM’s internal compliance and governance mechanisms, and determine whether additional disciplinary measures are warranted against FAM officials.”

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Curacao makes history as smallest nation by population to qualify for a World Cup

Curacao salvaged a 0-0 draw with Jamaica on Tuesday to become the smallest nation by population to qualify for a World Cup and will be joined by CONCACAF sides Panama and Haiti which also booked their spots, Associated Press reported.

Curacao finished as the only undefeated nation in the tournament and finished atop of Group B with 12 points to advance to the World Cup for the first time in its history. 

Curacao got the historic result it needed despite not having his coach Dick Advocaat. on the bench. The 78-year-old Advocaat missed the crucial match because he had to return to the Netherlands last weekend for family reasons, according to Associated Press.