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| Kathmandu Saturday April 06, 2002 Chaitra 24, 2058. |
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Postponements, officials’
inaction multiply sportsmen’s plight
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 5:It was the decision perhaps
every Nepali sportsmen and women would wish to alter. The South Asia Sports Federation
(SASF) executive committee agreed last Saturday to push back the already delayed ninth
South Asian Federation (SAF) Games by a year. The Games have been rescheduled for March 29
– April 7 in 2003, citing a busy international sporting calendar in 2002 as the
cause.
"Since a number of international sporting
events like the Commonwealth Games, football World Cup and Asian Games are due to be held
this year the committee decided that the Games will be held next year," Major Yahya
Ghaznavi, media coordinator for the Games, was quoted as saying by AFP.
The biennial Games that was originally slated
for the Pakistan capital Islamabad from October 6 to 15 were held back because of the
Afghan crisis. Although the Pakistani organisers rescheduled them for March – April
this year, they were postponed for a second time after SASF failed to agree to the dates.
Understandably, the decision has dampened the
spirit, drive, determination and dedication of the sportsmen and women in Nepal.
"The decision may make sense to those who
are members of the commonwealth. But it’ll have an adverse effect on Nepali sports
sector," said a taekwondo player.
The player, who insisted on anonymity, argued
that SAF Games serve as a perfect platform for Nepali athletes to measure themselves
against best players from the region. "These Games prepare us for greater challenges
that come in Asian Games and similar other events," he said.
The argument makes sense considering the fact
that the Asian Games are not too far off. The 14th Asian Games are slated to take place in
September this year in the South Korea city Busan.
The president of Nepal Olympic Committee Rukma
Shamsher Rana, who represented Nepal at the SASF meeting in Lahore, concedes the SAF Games’
postponement has created a big uncertainty over the country’s sports.
"I did raise the point in front of other
delegates," Rana said. "But we can’t blame anyone. As commonwealth member
five of the SAARC countries, except Nepal and Bhutan, have their obligation to compete at
the Commonwealth Games." The XVII Commonwealth Games are being held from July 25
– August 4 in Manchester, England.
Any good news that the Lahore conclave had for
Nepal was to establish a permanent SAF Games secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal in near
future. But at the time when country’s sports is being treated by the government as
its misplaced priority, many fear, Nepali sports is heading towards its peril.
And the government’s sports neglecting
budget that amounted just over Rs. 107 million for the fiscal year 2058-59 has only left
the National Sports Council (NSC) in desperate position.
Officials, who successfully convinced the
Finance Ministry last year to include over 1,000 employees both working at the council on
contract and temporary basis as permanent staffers, see it in deep waters.
The council staff are yet to draw their salary
since the last four months," said NSC member-secretary Binod Shankar Palikhe.
With the Finance Ministry unlikely to augment
the sports budget, confidence of those in the sports quarters is at record low over NSC
running its programmes. Questions are raised over
Nepal’s wherewithal to organise the World Junior Weightlifting Championship in June
without a hitch.
But Palikhe reassures that the sports sector can
still make out of this trying period. "We will make necessary arrangements to keep
all the associations functional," he said. "The current situation may deprive us
with adequate funding from the government. But sports activities will go on.
"We still have other avenues left," he
explained. "We have made a big headway with international sports organisations. Most
of them have pledged us with necessary support for the development of sports in
Nepal." |
