Nepal among four teams qualified for Asian Games men's cricket competition

KARACHI: Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Oman have all qualified for the Asian Games men's cricket competition, scheduled to be held in Japan from September 24 to October 3.

The four associate Asian nations earned their spots for the Games by securing the top two finishes in the two groups of the ongoing seven-team qualifying event in Singapore, scheduled to run until June 8.

Nepal, who participated in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup earlier this year, topped Group A, which would have also featured Qatar had they not withdrawn, by securing massive victories over China and Malaysia, respectively.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's comfortable nine-wicket victory over China in their campaign opener was enough for them to secure the second position and qualify for the Asian Games.

Hong Kong dominated Group B as they topped the standings by winning each of their three matches against Bahrain, hosts Singapore and Oman, respectively.

Notably, Hong Kong had already qualified for the Games following their victories over Bahrain and Singapore, while their triumph over Oman decided the lineups of the semi-finals, scheduled to be played on Sunday.

Oman, on the other hand, took a similar route to Asian Games qualification as they beat Bahrain and Singapore and finished second despite the defeat at the hands of Hong Kong in their last group-stage fixture.

It is pertinent to mention that the four teams will join Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Games as the five sides secured automatic qualification for being the Full Member International Cricket Council (ICC) nations from Asia, while Japan qualified on the virtue of being the hosts.