KATHMANDU, Oct 26: Defender Deepak Gurung of Tribhuvan Army club has been named in the 23-member final squad of football by head coach Gyotoku Koji for the upcoming AFC Solidarity Cup. 

Along with Deepak, five other players including striker Bimal Gharti Magar, Bishal Shrestha, Suman Lama, Ranjit Dhimal and Ranjan Bista have made their comeback to the national squad.

Striker Bimal was absent from the national team due to injury concern and family problems when Nepal played an international friendly against Laos which ended in a 1-1 draw on May 29 earlier this year. 

The final squad consists of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, six midfielders and six forwards. Altogether seven players have been left out from the closed-camp training of 30 players for the newly launched AFC tournament to be held in Kuching, Malaysia, from November 2 to 15. 

Winger Prakash Budhathoki and Bikash Tamang could not make it to the team after picking up injuries in training. Out of 28 remaining players, goalkeeper Alan Neupane, defenders Man Bahadur Tamang, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Jitendra Karki and midfielder Sunil Bal failed to make the cut. 

Nepal has been drawn in Group A of the tournament alongside Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste. The group consisting of Nepal was limited to three teams after two other South Asian nations Pakistan and Bangladesh withdrew from the tournament. Meanwhile, Group B consist of four teams including Sri Lanka, Macau, Mongolia and Laos. 

Nepal will begin its campaign on November 5 against Timor Leste at Negeri stadium. Similarly, in its second match Nepal will vie against Brunei Darussalam on November 8 at Sarawak stadium.  Two teams each from both groups will advance to the semifinals of the Solidarity Cup. 

The final will be held on November 15 at Sarawak stadium, Kuching.

Squad
Goalkeeper: Bikesh Kuthu, Kiran Kumar Limbu and Bishal Shrestha
Defenders: Rabin Shrestha, Biraj Maharjan, Ananta Tamang, Deepak Gurung, Aditya Chaudhary, Kamal Shrestha, Devendra Tamang and Ranjit Dhimal
Midfielders: Bishal Rai, Heman Gurung, Bikram Lama, Anjan Bista, Sujal Shrestha and Rajendra Rawal
Forwards: Bimal Gharti Magar, Ranjan Bista, Anil Gurung, Suman Lama, Nawayug Shrestha and Bharat Khawas.   

 
• deepak gurung
 
• 23-member final squad
 
• afc solidarity cup