National Games
unlikely to take place

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Apr. 11: The faces in and around National Sports Council are a reflection of utter sadness. The reason: the much-talked-about fifth National Games are unlikely to take place as the essential budget is said to have been blocked.

According a high placed source at NSC, the Ministry of Finance has written a letter to National Sports Council rejecting the budget for the organisation of the 5th National Games which has been scheduled to take place in Kathmandu from the third week of May, 2001.

The government earlier had earmarked about 460 million rupees for the organisation of the national events. Out of this sum, the government had early this month had released about 200 million rupees. Now it has said that it would not release the rest of amount putting the games and NSC officials in total doldrums.

The failure in organising the 15-event National Games will be a setback for Nepalese players and sports officials who regarded the games as the preparation for the 9th South Asian Federation Games to be held in Pakistan later this year.

Officials at NSC told that if the national games are not organised in time, it is going to be a certain setback for our players who are aspiring to repeat their performance in SAF Games.

Meanwhile, the NSC member Secretary Binod Shankar Palikhe is going on a week-long holiday. In his absence, NSC Member Dawa Gurung will take the NSC charge until Palikhe joins the job.