Kathmandu, April 12

The National Sports Council today classified 23 sports disciplines into three categories for the preparation of the 19th Asian Games to be held in Chinese city of Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8.

According to NSC Member Secretary Tanka Lal Ghising, three sports disciplines karate, boxing and taekwondo were kept in top priority under strategic participation to ensure full-squad in the Games.

'We will throw all our weapons to prepare athletes of boxing, karate and taekwondo in our bid to win medals in the Asian Games,' Ghising said.

Likewise, 11 disciplines athletics, cycling, football, golf, judo, swimming, triathlon, wushu, wrestling, weightlifting and volleyball have been identified as potential medal winning sports andthey are put in second priority.

Other sports selected by the NSC for Asiad participation included archery, basketball, kabaddi, fencing, handball, table tennis, cricket, shooting andbadminton. 'The High-performance Committee has suggested us to include four more sports e-sports, squash, tennis and rugby and we have not made any decision regarding the proposal,' said Ghising.

Member Secretary Ghising said the government had released Rs 20 million out of Rs 100 million for the Asian Games preparation. 'We are starting the official preparation on April 16 with the selection of the national teams. The selected 425 athletes will undergo medical check-up from April 21-23 and join the training from the following day. We will have fitness test of the athletes from May 4-11,' he said.

'After a month of first phase training, an internal selection will be conducted on May 18- 19 and we will trim the squad to 295,' he added.

The second phase training will be held from May 20 to July 8 and the final squad of 168 will be picked up for the Asian Games. 'The final phase of training is scheduled for June 9 to September 17,' said Ghising.

'The players will undergo a total of 154-day training and we are hoping for faring well in the Asian Games this time around,' he said.

Ghising, however, said the NSC was yet to set the target to be achieved in the Asian Games. 'We have made concrete plans to prepare for the Games but we have not set a certain target,' he said.

'Top priority sports are expected to win medals, while 11 sports disciplines under priority list are also potential medal winners for us,' he added.

'As we are open for proper training and international exposure along with foreign training for athletes, we can expect the best from athletes,' said Ghising.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 13, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.