Thapa retains presidency

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KATHMANDU, Nov 10 – Ganesh Thapa, president of the FIFA and AFC affiliated All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), retained his post in the election at the 10th Congress of the ANFA held on Saturday.

Thapa, along with his seventeen member executive committee won the election unopposed.

In the speech after his election as the president, Thapa, hit out on the Minister for Education and Sports, Amod Prasad Upadhyay and former Minister of State for Education and Sports, Dilendra Prasad Badu.

"Amod Prasad Upadhyay, along with Dilendra Prasad Badu, Rukma Shamsher Rana and
Binod Shanker Palikhe are the people responsible for the sorry state of sports in the country," said Thapa.

The election was carried out in presence of Harnoor Rashid, representative of FIFA and AFC. Rashid is and executive member of the AFC from Bangladesh.

Speaking on the occasion, Thapa also vowed to start working for goal project. Goal project is a tailor made project started by the world football governing body FIFA for the development of football in the developing countries.

Thapa also said that he is ready to quit if proven of any financial irregularities during his early tenure under National Sports Council (NSC).

Meanwhile, AFC, in a fax sent to Ganesh Thapa, Geeta Rana - the president of NSC recognise ANFA - and Rukma SJB Rana, president of Nepal Olympic Committee, expressed its disappointment over the district football associations’ election and ANFA Congress.

The letter, signed by AFC general-secretary Dato Peter Velappan, also appealed the three-party to join hand for the fresh election to legalise the status of ANFA.

On the other, seven ‘A’ Division Clubs including, Manang Marsyangdi, Naxal Youth, The Galaxian, Annapurna, Kathmandu, Three Star and Sankata Boys have sent letters to Velappan demanding the nullification of the election of Kathmandu district football association. The letters say that since the ‘A’ division clubs were not involved in the election it should be quashed.

The seventeen-member executive committee headed by Thapa consists of: Mahesh Bista, Narendra Shrestha, Mahendra Hamal, Mani Shah, Kishore Rai (vice-presidents), Lok Bahadur Shahi (general-secretary), Birat Jung Shahi (treasurer), Bhuban Prakash Shah, Mahendra Subba, Deepak Khati, Sunil SJB Rana, Suresh Ligal, Dhirendra Pradhan, Ganesh Bhattarai, Mani Kunwar and Basanta Aryal (members).

Chettri top HM Bike race

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KATHMANDU, Nov 10 – Chandra B Chhetri clocked 56 minutes 42 seconds to finish the first leg of Siemens Action Asia Himalayan Mountain Bike Race series as a winner in the Open category on Saturday.

The first leg of the three-race series featured a 22-km trail from Raniban to Kakani of the capital. Chhetri collected 30 points by virtue of this win. TB Gurung was the runner up in the race with 29 points to his credit. Likewise, Suresh Kumar Dulal finished at the third spot—with 28 points. The second race will be staged on November 18.

In the school category, Little Angels School—led by Samesh Maharjan was the champion while the second spot was secured by British School, with Arthur Autin as the team captain. Another team from the Little Angels, led by Ajap Rai was at the third spot. A team of three riders are allowed in a school team.

Similarly, Mardi Beat from Australia finished as the winner in the women’s category. Nirmala Tamrakar and Kameka Bhandari were the second and third respectively.

Other winners (top three):

Senior category:

Shambhu Maharjan, Ian Howchin, Nico Vreeken.

Junior category:

Manoj Shrestha, Anil Sthapit, Sanjip Thapa

Wheelchair category:

Syman Sherpa, Jaman Singh Lama, Amar Rai

Hyatt Regency Nations Cup 2001 concludes

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KATHMANDU, Nov 10 – Nepal- one team clinched the inaugural Hyatt Regency Kathmandu Nations Cup 2001 that concluded at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort on Saturday.

The one-day golf event, played under stable-ford ¾ handicap, drew a total of 64 participants representing Nepal, Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, Korea, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland. They made up 16 teams, each comprising of four players including a woman participant.

Nepal-one, comprising Tashi Ghale, Tashi Tshering, Phinto Ongdi and Sangita Shrestha Einhaus, carded 123, 10 points clear of the second placed Nepal-two that included Lt Gen KNS Thapa, RR Pandey, Bejoy Moktan and Eu Hzur Thapa. Nepal-four tea of Hridesh Singh, Rongrig SM Khampa, Tashi Lama and Sasha Pradhan finished close third at 112.

The general manager of Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, Martin van Kan, gave away the running trophy, tickets from Necon Air and packages from Hyatt Regency to the winning team.

Likewise, prizes were also distributed to Tashi Tshering for his closest to the pin shot, Tashi Ghale for the longest drive, CB Bhandari for best gross score of 34 points among men, J Sobeieniak for best gross score among ladies and Denmark/Germany team for the best dress.

With all the joy of Saturday golf, the tournament was organised towards the cause of underprivileged children in Nepal. According to the organisers, Rs 500 out of the participation fee- Rs 1,5000 from each participant will be donated to Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) for the purpose.