NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Brief Respite

The National Sports Council agrees to cooperate with the Ganesh Thapa-led ANFA -- upping the country's chances to participate in qualifying matches

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

As the country's supreme sports governing body -- the National Sports Council (NSC) -- has sent positive feelers to the Ganesh Thapa-led All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), the chances of Nepalese players participating in the World Cup Qualifying Matches to he held later this month in Iraq and Kazakhstan have sharply increased.

After messing up the country's maiden chance to host the World Cup qualifying matches, the row in the national football association had threatened to snatch away even the country's chance to participate in those matches and face the international suspension.

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But after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) sent a letter to NSC implying that they would not accept any team except the one recognized by the Thapa-led ANFA, the sports officials began to show signs of concession.

According to Binod Shankar Palikhe, the member-secretary at the NSC, the council decided to cooperate with Thapa-led ANFA in choosing the national team representing Nepal that would participate in the match because they feared suspension from FIFA if the row persisted.

The NSC has even formed a committee under the convenorship of Dawa Gurung which selected a 35-member squad including players that were participating in training camps of both the Rana as well as Thapa led ANFA. The initially selected players will undergo final selection which will choose the ultimate 20-member national team.

"Had we cooperated this much earlier, we would not have lost the chance to host the tournament here," Thapa is quoted to have said in a weekly.

Thapa has hinted that the present development in the Nepalese sports sector has put off the chance of FIFA imposing suspension on Nepal.

Last October, the NSC had constituted an interim (ad hoc) ANFA committee under the presidency of Geeta Rana even as the officials from AFC were present to witness the unopposed re-election of Ganesh Thapa as the head of ANFA.

A classic irony emerged subsequently with the national sports governing body recognizing the Rana-led ANFA while the international bodies like FIFA and AFC identifying the Thapa-led one.

Due to the stand-off between the two football associations, the qualifying match, which Nepal was to host in March, was taken away to Kazakhstan and Iraq -- leaving the Nepalese football-lovers who were expecting to see the match among such teams like Iraq, Kazakhstan, Macau and Nepal high and dry.

If things move smoothly, Nepalese players led by NSC would participate in the qualifying match scheduled to start in the third week of April in Baghdad, Iraq.

Even though the sports-lovers have heaved a sigh of relief with the temporary truce in the ANFA, they are wondering why it took the chance of hosting an international match to make our sports officials reach a compromise.

But the current patch-up in the Nepalese football sector is not a permanent solution. As the differences between the two ANFA officials run deep, many say the NSC should seize this chance to reach a lasting solution.