Kathmandu, October 23

The seventh National Games came under heavy clouds following the postponement of the regional selection tournaments by the National Sports Council today.

The regional selection events were slated for November 8-18 for the National Games, which is scheduled for November 23-30 in the Eastern Region. The NSC’s decision, however, threw the Games into uncertainty. The sports governing body cited unavoidable circumstances for postponing the selection tournaments in regions but source close to the NSC claimed that the move came after it failed to get the directives and financial norms approved by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

“The NSC cannot use the budget and assign human resources to prepare for the Games without the approval of the directives and financial norms. And the MoYS has not been able to take the consent of the Ministry of Finance to spend the budget allocated for the Games,” the source told The Himalayan Times.

“The National Sports Council did not have the choice and we decided to postpone the selection tournaments for now. And this move will affect the National Games as we fear we will not be able to hold the events on time,” the source added.

The seventh National Games had already been postponed twice, first in the absence of the budget and secondly due to the devastating earthquake. The Games was originally scheduled for November 27 to December 4 last year before the NSC postponed it for March 1-6. A total of 4,445 athletes are supposed to compete in the 32 sports disciplines in the Games. The NSC has also finalised the logo, mascot and theme song for the National Games, while Biratnagar was chosen as the venue for inauguration with Dharan set to host the closing ceremony.