 |
|||
|
|||
NEPAL IN SYDNEY OLYMPICS |
|
|||
|
|||
NEPAL IN SYDNEY OLYMPICS |
Empty Handed Nepalese swimmers Gurung and Pradhan improve their records but fail to bag any medals By A CORRESPONDENT It was a foregone conclusion. Nepalese athletes had not expected to bring any medals from Sydney nor had the Nepalese people any big hopes from them. But swimmers Runa Pradhan and Chitra Bahadur Gurung managed to improve their records. In a 50 m freestyle, the bronze medalist of last year's 8th South Asian Games, Gurung improved his personal record by completing the swim in 27.02 seconds. He had clocked 27.28 seconds during the SAF games held in Kathmandu last year. Runa Pradhan broke the national record by completing the 50 m freestyle swim in 31.28 seconds. The gold medalist in the 8th SAF games, she had earlier set the national record at 31.52 seconds. But both Gurung and Pradhan failed to qualify for the semifinals managing the 69th (out of 80) and 66th (out of 74) place overall. Likewise, Devi Maya Paneru, the 100 m sprinter completed her run in 12.74 seconds bagging 71st place among 84 competitors. Bhagwati KC, too, failed to shine in the shooting event. Five Nepalese athletes are participating in the Sydney Olympics. The fifth participant Gyan Bahadur Bohara is competing in the 5000 meter race that is set to take place on September 27th. The less-than-mediocre performance by Nepalese athletes, however, was not unexpected. "Given the infrastructure and facilities, even this much of achievement is not too bad," said a sports analyst. There is very little room to criticize the Nepalese athletes as most of the South Asian countries have fared equally badly in the games. Even India has managed to bag just a single bronze medal (in women's weight lifting event) till now. The poor attention given to sports has resulted in this region, which is home to one-fifth of total humanity, be content with few or no medals in the Olympics. Furthermore, Nepal's participation in this year's Olympics was shrouded in controversy from the very start. The highhandedness of by the Nepal Olympics Committee (NOC) President Rukma SJB Rana in taking five athletes and sixteen officials to Sydney was criticized by many. Analysts say that until and unless the sport officials begin to take their job seriously and concentrate on the improvement of the quality of athletes, the Sydney-like performance is sure to be repeated in future. |
|| Coverstory
|| SAARCLAW || Population
|| Economy || Interview
|| Nepal
In Sydney Olympic || |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
