The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has barred three national football players from participating in the forthcoming 13th South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in Nepal.
ANFA had earlier taken disciplinary action against striker Bimal Gharti Magar and midfielders Anjan Bista, Santosh Tamang and Dinesh Rajbansi, and barred them from travelling to Bhutan, where Nepal played Kuwait in the return leg match of the joint qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup.
They were ousted from the team after being found to have spent a night drinking in Thamel’s discos and clubs on the eve of the team’s departure for Thimphu.
Though ANFA has yet to publish any report on the players’ conduct, it listed Magar, Bista and Rajbansi as expelled from the upcoming tournament.
According to Balgopal Maharjan, coach for the SAG team, the three ousted players will be substituted by Rajesh Pariyar, Prejan Tamang and Rajib Lopchan.
ANFA has formed a disciplinary committee to investigate into the case. ANFA has not yet announced as to how long the players will be barred from re-entering into the team.
Nepal is all set to host the 13th SAG, 2019 from December 1 to December 10. Before this, Nepal hosted two SAG games in 1984 and 1999.
