RAWALPINDI, March 27: Nepal and Bhutan drew a blank on Saturday as the football tournament of the 9th SAF Games began at the Army Stadium in Rawalpindi.

This tie in Group B that also has Sri Lanka, witnessed some good scoring chances being wasted by both sides who played before virtually empty stands.

The arrangements for the media were poor with journalists not being provided team names and other relevant details that is customary at international matches.

India open their Group A campaign against Bangladesh on Sunday at the same venue while hosts Pakistan take on Afghanistan, in the only match of the tournament to be played in Peshawar.

APP adds: Nepal mostly dominated the match making frequent attacks right from start of the match in a bid to take the lead.

Left out, Bijaya made brilliant moves in 34th and 44th minutes of the first half going through the defence line of Bhutan but he failed to score goal.

Left-in Bisan and forward Janak missed a golden opportunity to score in 66th and 70th minutes when they found no resistance in the danger area after dodging Bhutan's defence-line but both of them lost control over the ball and shot wide.

Nepal also could not take advantage of thee corners given in 56th, 70th and 72nd minutes.

Mainly restricted to defence by Nepal's consecutive attacks, Bhutan's Wangchuk had a chance to score in 49th minute when the Nepal's goalkeeper cold not control the ball properly. Bhutan also could not make best use of six corners.

Nepal coach, Krishna Thapa said the morale of his team was high and it would give improved performance in the competitions to come.