Ten teams, split into two groups for the first phase, will now take part in the meet which will start in Kathmandu, Nepal from tomorrow. There is no change in the earlier groupings as Fiji were placed in Group A and Brunei in Group B.
Bangladesh, the defending champions, have been placed in group A for the first round along with Papua New Guinea (PNG), The Maldives, Singapore and Malaysia while Group B comprises 1996 losing finalist United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and hosts Nepal.
Holders Bangladesh will take on PNG in their first match tomorrow at the Tribhuvan University (TU) ground. They will face Malaysia next at the Institute of Engineers ground- 2 (IE-2) on October 5 and then Singapore at the Tribhuvan University ground on October 7 before meeting Maldives at the Saint Xavier's School (SXS) ground the following day.