KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chairperson, Pushpa Kamal Dahal has pledged that he would extend utmost support from his side to develop sports, which help foster national unity.

Inaugurating the 5th Sagarmatha International Karate Competition 2018 here on Thursday, Dahal said the sports sector had not achieved the progress as expected despite positive efforts taken for long.

"Sports enjoyed by the aristocratic people in the past, now needs development and investment with proper leadership," he underscored, adding that it could be done gradually.

As the Chairman said, the sports sector also needs the political leadership for its institutional development and expansion. Sports could be included in the school to university curriculum, he suggested.

According to him, as the positive efforts taken in the past were not continued, the sport sector witnessed ups and down.

The competition to run for two days has the participants from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and various clubs of Nepal.