Lalitpur, April 15:

Taekwondo ace Deepak Bista and Table Tennis player Sandhya Shakya were elected in the Athlete Commission under the Nepal Olympic Committee here on Sunday.

In the elections attended by 33 representatives of 20 national associations at the Birendra International Sports Complex, Bista was elected unopposed in the men’s section while Shakya defeated two other contestants — Preeti Dangol of Karate and Manju Shrestha of Handball — in the women’s section. Out of the 32 legal votes — one vote was cancelled — Shakya earned 15, Dangol 12 and Shrestha got five.

The NOC, after its historic elections last month, had formed preparation committees to form three commissions. Olympian Commission and Women Commission were the other two. NOC vice president Sitaram Maskey and members Dhirendra Pradhan and Ravi Rajkarnikar were in the committee to form the Athlete Commission. After being elected, both Bista and Shakya vowed to raise the players’ voices in the NOC board meetings.

NOC officials leave for Kuwait

Kathmandu:Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) president Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, general secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha and treasurer Upendra Keshari Neupane left for Kuwait on Sunday to take part in the general assembly of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) slated for April 16-17.

The general assembly will elect a new OCA executive committee, which will decide the host nation for the 2014 Asian Games. New Delhi (India) and Incheon (South Korea) have bid to host the event.

Sheikh Ahmad Alfad Alsabha of Kuwait, Raja Randhir Singh of India have been unanimously elected as the OCA president and general secretary respectively. Ravi Rajkarnikar and Purushottam Shrestha have filed their nominations for the post of OCA members from Nepal. NOC president Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan is running for the post of the OCA Rule Committee president. — HNS