Nepal on Saturday announced a 23-member final squad for the sixth SAFF Women’s Championship including three new faces.

Forward Rekha Paudel has marked comeback to the national fold after three years for the biennial tournament set to take place in Kathmandu from September 6 to 19. She was also a member of the Nepali team during the 2019 SAFF Championship held in Biratnagar.

Coach Kumar Thapa named youth players Samikshya Ghimire, Deepa Shahi and Amisha Karki in the national squad for the first time. The squad was trimmed down from 35 players currently in the national team camp.

The trios were the members of the women’s U-19 national squad. While Ghimire plays as defender, Shahi is midfielder and Karki a forward.

Nepal are drawn in Group ‘B’ along with Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Group ‘A’ comprises defending champions India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Pakistan. The winners and runners up from each group will make it to the semi-finals.

India are the most successful team of the tournament having won all five previous editions. Nepal were runners up on previous four editions except 2016 Championship where they crashed out from the semi-final losing to India. Nepal had lost all four finals to India.

Nepal will start their group round campaign taking on Bhutan on September 6 and Sri Lanka on September 12.