National 9 (Spotlight Weekly)

Precarious Prospects

Caught between limited funds and poor preparation, will Nepalese athletes secure any medal?

By KESHAB POUDEL

Will any Nepalese player break the record set by Sabita Rajbhandari, who won a silver medal at the 13th Asian Games, and win a gold? Although Nepalese boxers and tae-kwondo players have the potential, they have a long way to go before achieving that feat.

Minister Saud (right) burning the flames of 14th Asiad : Spirit of sport

Nepal had to wait 35 long years to win its first medal in the premier Asian sporting event. The country bagged eight bronze medals at the Tenth Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea in 1986. It took the country 47 years to secure its first silver medal, at the 1998 games in Bangkok, Thailand. As the country has not spent enough time and money preparing for this year's games, it would be hard pressed to maintain its past glory.

"The Nepalese team has a long way to go toward securing a gold medal in the Asian Games," says senior journalist Ishwor Man Singh, who has been covering sports for the last three decades. "Since the game is becoming more competitive and tough, Nepalese athletes need to spend more time to make final preparations." At a time when the country lacks a regular national sports tournament, how can Nepalese improve their performance?

Uncertainty about Nepal's prospects in the 14th Asian Games has been looming large from the beginning. With the country forced to allocate more money on security and for the elections, funding has been a major problem. So the list of the players was finalized at the last minute.

Member secretary of the National Sports Council (NSC) Binod Shankar Palikhe and members of the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) secured accreditation for Nepalese players just a couple of days before leading the country's team to the games in South Korea.

Although every team needs to submit the list of the participating players a month before the games, Nepalese sports officials had to wait until the last minute to know how much money they would receive from the government and then work out how many players they could send.

Because of the uncertainty in budget allocation, the NOC and the NSC officials flew to Busan to request the organizing committee to accommodate Nepalese players in the last minute. "In such a situation, how can you expect our athletes to secure a gold medal?" asks Palikhe. "Had the government sanctioned the budget a year earlier, Nepalese athletes would have more time for preparations."

The 14th Asiad is scheduled to be held from September 29 to October 14 in the South Korean port city of Busan and nearby cities. A total of 419 gold medals in 38 sports are at stake. According to the organizers, about 12,000 athletes and officials from all 43 member countries of the Olympic Council of Asia will participate in the games, a record in Asiad's history. The previous games in Bangkok drew 9,699 athletes and officials from 41 countries.

China is predicted to clinch about 150 gold medals at Busan Asiad for the top position in the overall medal tally. Since the 1992 Beijing Asian Games when China won a record 183 gold, it has seen its number of gold decline to 137 at Hiroshima in 1994 and 129 and Bangkok in 1998.

Athletes village in busan : State of the art facilities

One of the major highlights of the Busan Asiad is the participation of North Korea and Afghanistan. Moreover, the Busan is the second non-capital city to host Asian Games after Hiroshima, Japan.

Nepalese participation and prospects in international sporting events have largely depended on which party is in power, since the government appoints the NSC member secretary. "We need to have clear policies and priorities to develop the games. First of all, the NSC should work to revive the national and regional games to lift the quality of sports," says Singh.

This is not first time the NSC has been forced to race against the clock. Whatever the political system in place, sports have always been given low priority in the nation and the budget has always been allocated at the last minute.

The delay in the release of funds has even hampered the plane schedule, as the players have to fly to more destinations. While returning from Seoul, Nepalese players will have to fly to New Delhi via Singapore Airlines to return to Nepal.

"It is very unfortunate that more than half a dozen people have had to be removed from original list because of lack of funds," says Palikhe. "It seems sports is nobody's priority in the country."

According to the NSC, the Nepalese team will take part in 10 out of the 30 events included in the Busan Games. The events include athletics, boxing, tae-kwondo, weightlifting, Karate D, swimming, shooting, soft tennis, golf, judo and wushu.

For the first time, Nepal is going to the Asian Games without plans to participate in any team event. At a time when war-ravaged Afghanistan's soccer team qualified for the Asian Games, Nepalese footballers could not take part because of internal disputes.

Nepal has been participating in the Asian Games since their inception in 1951. The country has taken part all the tournaments except the second games in the Philippines in 1955. Nepalese athletes secured eight bronze medals in the 1986 games.

The Nepalese team secured two bronze medals in 12th Asian Games held in Hiroshima, Japan in 1994. Sabita Rajbhandari won Nepal's first silver medal at 13th Asian Games, whether the kingdom also won three bronzes. It is uncertain how many medals Nepal may secure this time.

Possible Games

Although the Nepalese team will take part in 10 games, boxing, tae-kwondo and Karate D are the categories where it is expecting to bag medals. Following the retirement of Baikuntha Manandhar, Nepal has not found a player capable of matching his record in marathon. Nepalese players will not qualify even up to first round in athletics. The prospects in swimming, shooting, soft tennis are not bright, either. Judo and wushu players seem to be in a better position.

"We sent our tae-kwondo team to Korea, boxing team to Thailand and Karate D team to Malaysia for further training," said Palikhe. "Despite all these hindrances and hiccups, our players will bring some medals," he says.

Whatever the duration of the preparation, Nepalese officials have high hopes in tae-kwondo, especially since is the game in which Nepal secured its first Asiad medal. Nepalese boxers also have secured medals in the Asian games.

"Other countries have been spending huge resources to prepare their athletes for the competition that I getting tougher. Unfortunately, Nepalese officials do not have any long-term plans and programs to improve our performance," says sports journalist Singh.

The government has sanctioned about Rs.2 million to send the Nepalese team to Busan, which is woefully insufficient. "If the government wants results in the games, it must sanction enough money at least a year in advance," Palikhe says.

The NSC does not seem to be clear about the direction it wants to lead Nepalese sports, either. For† instance, nobody knows why the council chose soft tennis, golf and shooting, and not football and volleyball, for participation in the Busan games.

Although the Nepalese team would have few chances of performing well in games like football and volleyball, participation in such team events would have a positive impact on the development of sports.

"Nepalese athletes will win medals in individual events like karate and tae-kwondo. As the games have become more competitive, it will take many more years for Nepal to win a gold medal," says Singh. Weathering uncertainty and gloom, the team has left for the games. How it performs is a different matter altogether.