I preferred football to NSC member-secretary: Thapa

POKHARA, Jan 1 (PR)- The president of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Ganesh Thapa revealed on Wednesday that he had turned down an offer to be the member-secretary of National Sports Council to concentrate solely on football.

Speaking at a programme organised by Sahara Club in Pokhara, Thapa said: "I was offered the position of member-sectary at NSC. But I can’t leave football. Football is my life."

As the tenure of present member-secretary Binod Shankar Palikhe nears its end, guessing games are abound over the possible candidates to take over the charge of country’s apex sports ruling body.

Thapa also hinted about the possible unification of district football associations . "ANFA will unite all football associations at district level as soon as possible.

"We don’t have any prejudice and are trying our best to unite all who are not satisfied," he added.

Revealing ANFA’s target of equipping each of the 30 district football associations with football academy, he announced that ANFA would allocated Rs. 400,000 to each district association for the purpose. He also said that scholarships would be provided to some 1000 talented young players across the country.

Army march on with 74-36 win

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Jan 1 Royal Nepal Army’s Tribhuvan Club thrashed Gyaron Guys 74-36 in the second day of the Birthday Cup Men’s Basketball Championship organised by Nepal Basketball Association (NBA).

Dilli of Tribhuvan Club topscored with 16 points. In the second match of the day, Gyanodaya Club downed Nepal Commerce Campus by a comfortable 83-55 margin. Gyanendra of the winning team scored 16 points. Tri-Chandra College recorded similar emphatic 93-50 victory over Wilson Academy. Subash Shreshta alone netted 24 points for Tri-Chandra.

In the last match of the second day, BBST Club also scored a convincing 74-48 win over Raktakali Club. Sampten O’Sullevan topscored for BBST with 22 points.

Brigade Boys Club will take on Tri-Chandra College while Tribhuvan Club meet GYC on Thursday. Likewise Gyan Niketan Tigers face off BBST and 10’ers play Gyanodaya Club on the same day. A total of 12 basketball teams around the valley are competing at the tournament.

Cricket

Brihaspati Vidhya Sadan entered the final of the Birthday Cup Cricket tournament defeating Nightingale School by seven runs in the last league match played at Tribhuvan University cricket ground.

Nightingale School won the toss and put Brihaspati to bat in the rain-curtailed 15-over match. Brihaspati compiled mammoth 96 runs for the loss of four wickets in their batting innings. Abhya Satyal smashed 28 runs while Tenjing Sherpa chipped in with 20 runs for the winning team.

Despite a brilliant knock of 37 runs from Anup Raj Aryal, Nightingale could only make 89 runs for the loss of six wickets. Dev Chaudhary was the another batsman trying his best scoring 16 runs. Satyal, Sherpa, Sovit Chand, Lakpa Sherpa and Anuj Shrestha picked up one wicket each for Brihaspati. Abhaya Satyal was declared man of the match.

Brihaspati will take on Galaxy Public School in the final on Thursday.

Judo

The third National Judo Coach and Referee Course organised by Nepal Judo Association (NJA) started at the Central Judo Training Centre, Tripureshwor.

Rajkumar Thakuri, the vice-president of NJA inaugurated the 5-day course on Thursday. The successful referees will officiate the Kathmandu Matsumoto Friendly Cup Judo Championship. Binod Raj Saiju, judo coach and international referee, will run the course.

Boxing

Siddhi Bahadur Katuwal of Tribhuvan Club and Gyanendra Shah of Dang will meet in the final of 51kg weight category after registering semifinals victory on Wednesday.

Katuwal downed Deepak Chukan while Shah defeated Sachin Rawal in the semifinals. Rabindra Shrestha of Meghdut, Krishna Bahadur Kumal of Chitwan and Krishna Tamakhu of Bhaktapur also won their respective matches on Wednesday in the 54kg weight category. In 57kg category, the winners were Dhan Bahadur Dhitang of Tribhuvan Club and Shyam Sundar Duwal of Khop. Likewise, Surya Ranamagar (Tribhuvan Club) and Purna Bahadur Lama (Makwanpur) posted wins in 60 kg weight category.

Shooting

The Birthday Cup Shooting Championship kicked off Wednesday at the Birendra International Shooting Complex, Satdobato.

The 6-day championship concentrates mainly on junior shooters. Some 50 shooters are expected to compete in the championship featuring seven events of shooting. Krishna Mohan Shrestha, the inspector general of Armed Police Force, inaugurated the tournament early Wednesday amid a function.