Kathmandu, August 4:

Gunter Lange, director of the Nepal German Athletics Development Project, is leaving Nepal on Sunday.

The German Embassy and Lange both declined to give the reason behind the sudden departure of Lange ending the 11-year-old project, sources claimed that the German government called Lange back after it found controversy in Nepal’s athletics association.

Lange — who is also a Sports Development Consultant of the National Olympic Committee for Germany, IAAF Senior Lecturer/Coach, and DSB Diploma Coach — came in the eyes of rivals after he backed Nepal Athletics Association led by former member secretary of National Sports Council (NSC) Kishor Bahadur Singh, which the opponent group failed to digest and sent letters to the German government and IAAF repeatedly, claimed the source that sought anonymity.

Inquired about the issue, NSC member secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha said that Lange would return to Nepal after some time. “He is just leaving for the time being as we have controversy in the association. He will be back once the row is resolved,” added Shrestha, who met with Nobert Meyer, acting ambassador at the German Embassy, this morning. “We have come to n agreement to send (Gunter) Lange to Germany at the moment. But, we will bring him back after we find a permanent solution in the association,” he said.

There was no controversy in athletics before Shrestha was nominated at the National Sports Council. But, once Shrestha came in, the Nepal Amateur Athletics Association — which was dissolved by Kishor Bahadur Singh during his tenure and held the fresh elections — sought their existence.

Member secretary Shrestha nullified both the associations and formed a five-member committee to select the players for the 10th South Asian Games.

“The are rumours in the market that the project was called off, which is not true. I assure that the project will be continued and Lange will be back soon,” claimed Shrestha.