KARACHI: Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Oman have qualified for the Asian Games men’s cricket tournament to be held in Japan from September 24 to October 3.
The four Associated Asian nations secured their places by finishing in the top two of the two groups in the seven-team qualifiers being held in Singapore until June 8.
Nepal, who participated in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup earlier this year, finished top of Group A, which would have had massive wins over China and Malaysia, had Qatar not withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s campaign opener against China was good enough for them to finish second and qualify for the Asian Games.
Hong Kong dominated Group B on the points table with wins in all three matches against Bahrain, Singapore and Oman respectively.
Notably, Hong Kong had already qualified for the Games following wins over Bahrain and Singapore, while their win over Oman decided the line-up for the semi-finals scheduled to be played on Sunday.
On the other hand, Oman went a similar route to Asian Games qualification as they beat Bahrain and Singapore to finish second.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will participate in the tournament as all five teams have automatic qualification for the full-member International Cricket Council (ICC) nations from Asia, while Japan qualified on merit as hosts.