Kathmandu, August 18

The 103rd board meeting of National Sports Council (NSC) today decided to include 35 sports disciplines in the seventh National Games to be held in Eastern Region later this year.

NSC removed one of the two taekwondo disciplines and added four — Sepaktakraw, Kho Kho, Fencing and Triathlon — to the 32 included in the previous edition of the Games held in 2012 in Dhangadhi. The then Yubaraj Lama-led NSC registered Nepal Taekwondo Union — a parallel body of Nepal Taekwondo Association — and included the sport as a separate discipline in the Games.

“We have decided to include taekwondo as a single sport as we are not in mood to allow two disciplines of same nature in the Games,” NSC Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista said. “We will try to merge the two bodies before the Games and if not we will ask them to hold selection tournament to prepare a single team,” he added.

The NSC has also kept four sports — Rock Climbing, Dance Sports, Rugby and Sambo — as the possible demonstration disciplines. “We will include these four disciplines if we can manage funds,” Bista said.

The seventh edition of the Games will be held from November 27 to December 4 in various cities of the eastern region. The inauguration will be held at Shahid Rangashala in Biratnagar, while the closing will be held at the ANFA Technical Centre in Dharan. “President Dr Ram Baran Yadav is scheduled to open the Games and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala will grace the closing ceremony,” informed Bista. “We will have grand closing ceremony with a lot of fireworks,” he added. “The majority of sports will be held in Biratnagar, Itahari and Dharan, while we have allotted some competitions in Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa and Ilam,” informed Bista. The government has allotted Rs 230 million for the Games but Bista said the budget would not be enough. “With the increment in venues and number of sports, we have estimated a budget of Rs 280 million. We will ask the government to allocate another Rs 50 million,” said Bista.

The NSC meeting formed a 507-member Main Organising Committee, headed by Minister for Youth and Sports Purushottam Paudel, which will have all the ministers and CA Members of the region. Likewise, NSC Member Secretary Bista will lead a 21-member Executive Committee, while 12 sub-committees have been formed under NSC Members. The district selection will be held from October 4-11, while regional selection will be held from October 28 to November 9.

“The selected players will be kept under special training camp from November 18-25,” said Bista. A total of 7,000 participants, including 5,000 athletes and 2,000 officials, from eight teams — five development regions and three departmental teams — will take part in the Games. “We will sit with the national associations and fix the number of events.”