Train Harder

WITH exactly one month to go from today for the South Asia Federation Games, uncertainty about how many athletes are actually going to participate in the forthcoming South Asian Federation Games is finally over with the National Sports Council Board of Directors deciding on Friday to send a team of 157 players to Islamabad. Joining the team to the Pakistan meet, from October 7 to 15, would be an additional 49 jury members, referees, coaches and officials as well as some 10 journalists. The discussions about the composition and size of the squad had gone on for too long, affecting the preparations of the athletes for the meet. The indecision on the squad size meant that the hopefuls could only put in half-hearted energy into training. It is easy to imagine the psychological impact it has on athletes when the issue on the eventual composition of the squad remains hanging with the major meet right at the doorsteps. For the last Games held in Kathmandu, athletes had trained in closed camps for nine months. This time they got much less as selection itself was done only a couple of months ago on account of the uncertainty over budgetary outlay for participation and preparation. Be that as it may, now that the squad size is clear, it is extremely important that no time is lost to put the athletes under rigorous training. Without working extra hard from now onwards, it will be unlikely that Nepal could fetch a reasonable number of medals.

What are Nepal’s chances in Islamabad meet? During the last Games, held in Kathmandu, Nepal figured second in the overall medal tally with 33 gold to its credit, the largest-ever haul of Nepal in any international sports meet. Though Nepal will be taking part in 14 out of the 15 disciplines included in the SAF Games, its medal collection primarily hinges on players’ performance in three individual games—karate, taekwondo and boxing. Nepal’s high tally at the Kathmandu meet, apart from the advantage of a home turf, had much to do with its good performance in the martial arts. The plan to send karate players to Iran, taekwondoists to Thailand and boxers to Pakistan for further training next week is necessary to psyche up the players.

At the same time, the closed camps here in other disciplines must see sustained, methodical training over the coming weeks so that athletes have a better chance of having a serious go at the medals on offer in Islamabad. Sports officials and athletes must work harder.

Desire For Peace

AS the peace talks between the representatives of the government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have already started to end the six-year old insurgency and restore peace in the country, all sectors are hoping for the success of the talks. The Maoist insurgency has already claimed more than 1700 lives and damaged property worth millions of rupees over the last six years. Development activities were badly affected because of the violence and country’s economy including tourism industry suffered a heavy blow. But after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba came to power, both the government and Maoists declared ceasefire and started the peace process. Peace is a must for stability, development and prosperity in the country. Now the Maoists too have realised the need for peace. Thus, the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Maoist needs to be brought to a logical end for the best interest of the nation and the people. All peace loving people in the country are eagerly awaiting for the successful outcome of the peace talks. The nation can no longer afford no more violence and conflicts. Violence and conflicts only create hatred and disturbance in the society. As the country is suffering from massive poverty and backwardness, all people need to work collectively for the social and economic development of the nation so that people’s living condition would be raised. Such collective efforts and cooperation among all is possible only in the atmosphere of peace, harmony and understanding in the country. It would be against the interest of the nation if peace talks between the government and the Maoists rebels fail. The government has done every thing possible to create a congenial atmosphere for peace talks and it has expected the same from the Maoist sides as well. However, some activities the Maoists have been carrying out, even after the announcement of ceasefire and beginning of the peace talks, are likely to damage the peace process. Prime Minister Deuba has requested the Maoist to shun such activities and make the peace talks a success. Against this background, the representatives of civil society organized an interaction programme in the capital in which they spoke of the need for success of the talks and called upon all not to disturb the peace initiatives. It is high time that all people, irrespective of their ideology and political leaning, need to work from their respective quarters to help make the peace talks meaningful and solve the Maoist problem through dialogue and restore peace in the country. Therein lies the interest and future of the nation and the people.