Nepal national men's football team were trimmed down to 25 members after forward Abhishek Rijal, goalkeeper Arpan Karki and defender Sishir Lekhi were excluded from the squad on Tuesday.

National team's Qatari coach Abdullah Almutairi left out the trio from the 28 players from closed camp training underway in Pokhara. The final squad will have 23 players.

Nepal are preparing the team for two friendly matches against India to be held at the Dasharath Stadium and SAFF Championship to take place in the Maldives. The friendlies are scheduled for September 2 and 5 and the biennial Championship will be played from October 1 to 16 in Male.

In the championship, Nepal will play against hosts Maldives in the opening match on October 1, Sri Lanka on October 4, India on October 10 and Bangladesh on October 13.

Among the seven members of SAFF, Bhutan and Pakistan are not competing in the event. The top two finishers of the league stage will compete in the final on October 16. All the games will be played at the National Football Stadium in Male.

Nepali Squad

Kiran Kumar Limbu, Deep Karki, Bishal Shrestha, Bikesh Kuthu, Aashish Lama, Ananta Tamang, Anjan Bista, Ayush Ghalan, Bishal Rai, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Gautam Shrestha, Kamal Thapa, Manish Dangi, Nawayug Shrestha, Nitin Thapa, Pujan Uperkoti, Rajan Gurung, Rohit Chand, Santosh Tamang, Sujal Shrestha, Suman Aryal, Suman Lama, Sunil Bal, Suraj Jeu Thakuri, Tej Tamang.