NATIONAL8 (Spotlight Weekly]

Will It Be Held?

Sports administrators suspend the Fifth National Games to mourn the royal tragedy

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

A meeting of the National Sports Council (NSC) has decided to suspend the 5th national games for an indefinite period. ìIn such a situation of mourning, we could not hold the games,î said Binod Shankar Palikhe, member-secretary at the NSC.

The fifth national games was to be held in Kathmandu from June 3 to 8. Late King Birendra was to open the games on June 3. But fate had other plans. The gruesome killing of almost the entire royal family has left the country shaking. The sports sector was further damaged as it lost its patron, Crown Prince Dipendra.

Athletes : Need more practice

The council has not given the new dates for the games yet. ìWe cannot hold the games at short notice. So, it is not possible to prescribe the dates at this point,î said Palikhe.

The national games is regarded as the most important sports events in the country. It provides domestic athletes an opportunity to show their talents.

This year the national games would have provided a rehearsal for the upcoming ninth South Asian Games. The authorities had planned to select Nepalese athletes for the ninth SAF games after assessing their performance in the national games. The ninth SAF games is going to be hosted by Pakistan later this year.

As such, there is no mood among sports authorities to hold the game anytime soon. ìI think this year there will be no national games,î said one athlete.

Eighteen disciplines were included in the fifth national games including athletics, boxing, badminton, football, karate, kabaddi, squash, swimming, shooting, taekwondo, table tennis, volleyball (male and female), weight-lifting and wrestling.

As there is uncertainty over the organization of the Fifth National Games, athletes express apprehension that they may not be well prepared for the upcoming regional games. ìDefinitely, if the games is not held, our players may not perform well in the regional games,î said a sports official.

In the Eighth SAF games held in Kathmandu in 1999, Nepal bagged a record 31 gold medals to stand in second place behind India in the final medal tally. Interestingly, most of the medals for Nepal came from martial arts events like karate and taekwondo.

Meanwhile, a contingent of Nepalese cricket team is heading for Toronto, Canada shortly to take part in an international cricket tournament. But their preparation, too, was badly affected by the tragedy in Narayanhity royal palace.

As the sports sector is still shaken after the June 1 incident, many believe it could take months if not years before the sector finds its strong footing.

KATTE BAHUN'S WOES

In a dramatic turn of events, the two Brahmins who took the Katto meal, instead of being exiled from the Kathmandu valley, were pushed back to their respective residences on Sunday, June 17. Durga Prasad Sapkota, 75, and Devi Prasad Acharya, 65, were almost in tears after they were huddled in a police van and taken away from the Katte pati in Jawalakhel to their residences. Tradition demanded that these two Brahmins be exiled from the valley. But the two Brahmins refused to be exiled before they were given the promised land and housing facilities. They complained that the authorities betrayed them by backtracking on the promises of land and house. Instead they were offered Rs 10,000 for elephant, Rs 1,000 for horse, Rs 5,000 for house, Rs 2,500 for land and Rs 500 for servants. Both the Brahmins expressed extreme dissatisfaction on being paid so little. Sapkota and Acharya had taken the forbidden katto meal on the 11th day ritual of late King Birendra and late King Dipendra respectively. According to the tradition, the Brahmins who took katto meal are considered inferior and impure.