The Indian U16 Women's Team led by 15-year-old Shveta Rani will take on Bhutan in the inaugural match of the maiden edition of the South Asian Football Federation's (SAFF) U16 Women's Championship 2024 at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal on Friday, 1st March, 2024.

The four nation tournament to be held in round robin format league format will also witness participation from host Nepal and Bangladesh in a bid to stamp regional supremacy. The same will be followed by a grand finale on Saturday, 10th March, 2024, between the top two teams at the end of the league phase.

Sharing his thoughts on the preparations and overall mood ahead in the Indian camp on the eve of the tournament, Head Coach Biby Thomas said, "Our preparations have been well and the girls are high on confidence despite this being their first international tournament. Their unity shows on the training pitch and they are hungry for success”.

As may be recalled India had won the SAFF Championships in the U-15 age group way back in 2018 and 2019, having beaten Bangladesh in the final on both occasions.

Sounding a note of caution Thomas who was the assistant coach of India's title-winning SAFF U19 Men's Championship just five months ago in Nepal added, " Since this is probably the first time most of the players are playing a SAFF tournament there is very litter knowledge about our opponents so far and we expect them to equally competitive, because they too will be hungry to prove themselves. We will get the opportunity to watch Bangladesh and Nepal play on Saturday. For tomorrow, we have to fulfil all preparations from our end and go for the win."

Haryana based India's captain Shveta who is the only player with prior international experience, having made the U17 squad for the AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers in Kyrgyzstan last year on the other hand said, "We held practice sessions for almost two months in Goa with our good coach. We have a great bunch of players. We're all new to international football, but it doesn't matter that we've not got any experience. The real experience comes from our heart and we have no shortage of that."

Post the inaugural match, India will hope to put it across arch rivals Bangladesh on Monday 5th March and Nepal on Wednesday 7th March in a bid to qualify for the finale

India's 23-member Squad:

Goalkeepers: Konjengbam Tamphasana Devi, Munni, Surajmuni Kumari.

Defenders: Amrita Ghosh, Bonifilia Shullai, Divyani Linda, Elizabed Lakra, Gauri Gurav, Rheanna Liz Jacob, Rupashree Munda, Sarangthem Alena Devi.

Midfielders: Anita Dungdung, Anushka Kumari, Anwita Raghuraman, H Yashica, Longjam Nira Chanu, Ritu Badaik, Shveta Rani, Thanda Moni Baskey.

Forwards: Gurleen Kaur, Gurnaz Kaur, Neha Saji, Pearl Fernandes.

Head coach: Biby Thomas Muttath