KATHMANDU: National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Yubaraj Lama today accused Minister for Youth and Sports Purushottam Paudel of not letting him work for more than a year.

At a press conference organised to review his four-year term as the boss of Nepali sports, Lama said he was not able to achieve his goals in the later part of his stint because of Paudel’s inefficiency and uncooperative nature. Lama, w

ho was appointed by UCPN (Maoists) during Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government, is retiring after two days.

“The first three years was superb and I could work freely,” said Lama. “But the last one year was very difficult and we were busy in legal fight against minister Paudel,” added Lama, who termed his tenure as a successful one. “Out of 100, we acquired 75 marks and that is satisfactory. We were not let obtain the remaining 25 marks by Paudel and his allies.”

In a 10-page review release, Lama said training, tournaments, infrastructure, prize and system were the five things achieved by his team. “We introduced scientific training for coaches and kept national teams of various sports in special training camps to prepare the players throughout the year,” said Lama. “The sports fraternity was at standstill when I came to the NSC. We provided momentum and increased activities,” he claimed.

“We focused on infrastructure development and came up with an idea of at least one semi-covered hall in all the 204 constituencies. We also initiated in the construction and maintenance of stadiums across the nation,” Lama said. “With a view of rewarding athletes, we initiated a policy and were able to manage cash incentives to the players who won medals in international arena. And finally, we were able to establish a system to run the NSC which was previously under one-man control,” he added.

Lama admitted he could not solve the problem of Nepal Olympic Committee and that he made mistakes in the cases of Cricket Association of Nepal and Nepal Taekwondo Union. “We were not 100 per cent perfect and made some mistakes. Four years down the line, I realise that I should not have listened to too many people while changing the leadership at CAN,” said Lama, who had dissolved Binay Raj Pandey-led body and nominated Maoists Central Committee leader Tanka Angbuhang as the ad hoc committee president.

CAN fell into turmoil after Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) charged 10 officials including Angbuhang in graft case. “It is hitting me hard in my heart,” said Lama. “In NOC’s case, we tried our level best to resolve the long-standing row of parallel bodies and I don’t regret it as the case was political rather than of sports alone,” he added. Lama expressed his surprise regarding the formation of NTU. “There are dozens of karate associations in the country but only NTU hit the headlines. I could not understand that,” said Lama. The outgoing Member Secretary suggested his successor to continue with the system established by him and focus on infrastructure development. “The April 25 earthquake has destroyed infrastructure across the nation. We have already submitted the proposal to the government and the next Member Secretary should focus on rebuilding the damaged facilities,” he concluded.