A Bimal Gharti Magar hat-trick spurred Nepal to an emphatic 3-1 win over Bhutan in the 1st Saff U-19 Championship opener at the Anfa Complex in Satdobato on Thursday.

The inspirational U-19 skipper, who is also the member of the senior national team, opened the scoring early in the 10th minute only for Sonam Togbay to equalise for Bhutan a minute.

However, Gharti Magar, who trains at the youth team of the Belgian outfits Brugge, put the home team ahead again in the 29th minute before sealing the game by completing a hat-trick in the 62nd minute.

The hosts will now play Bangladesh on August 24 in the three-team Group 'A'. Maldives, Afghanistan, India are in Group B. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in the tournament.

Top two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals slated for August 27