Kathmandu, October 22:

Nepali athletes — Arjun Kumar Basnet of Tribhuvan Army Club and Gyanendra Armed Police Force Officers’ Club duo of Akkal Bahadur Bohara and Arjun Kumar Dhakal — are all set to take part in the international marathon after two years.

The athletes, who will become the first Nepali long distance runners to take part in the European marathon when they rub their shoulders with the world’s best marathoners in Frankfurt Marathon on October 30, are leaving for Germany on Monday. Coach Sushil Nurshing Rana, who is also the general secretary of Nepal Athletics Association, and director of Nepal German Athletics Development Project Gunter Lange, will accompany the athletes.

Among the three athletes, Basnet holds the best record. The Tribhuvan Army Club runner won the silver medal in ninth SAF Games held in Islamabad with the timings of 2:21:21 — his personal best. Dhakal, who does not have international experience in marathon, posted the timings of 2:36:51 to win the Kathmandu Toyota Marathon last year, while Bohara finished 10th in the Asian Marathon Championship held in Korea in November 2004 with the timings of 2 hour 36 minutes. Nepal has not entered in international events — except regional events like SAF Games — after Bohara’s participation in Korea.

Kishor Bahadur Singh, president of NAA and members secretary of National Sports Council, bade farewell to the players and officials at a programme today. German government sponsored two air tickets, while Qatar Airways and the NSC gave away one apiece.

Lange gave away a tracksuit each to sales executive of Qatar Airways Raghav Thapa, Honorary Royal Nepalese Consulate at German Embassy Bodo Krugar, and NSC member secretary Singh as token of love. He also distributed jerseys to the players and officials.

Thanking the German government and Qatar Airways for their help, Singh said that the new technology opted by the NAA has helped the athletes in recent times. “They have shown improvements due to scientific technologies in training, and hope all the players will perform to their best in the event,” he said.

Consulate Krugar said that he was proud to get the opportunity to help Nepali athletes. “Gunter (Lange) asked for the help and we are happy that we could manage some,” he said. “We have to go step by step and you can be sure that we would look after Nepali sports in future also,” he added. Coach Rana was optimistic about the athletes’ performance in Frankfurt. “This is our build up event for next year’s 10th South Asian Games, and I hope all three will meet out target time of 2:20 to 2:21 minutes,” he said.

Gobardhan Nath Sharma, treasurer of the NSC, also expressed his views. Additional IGP of Nepal Police Amar Singh Shah, AIGP of Armed Police Force Ravi Raj Thapa, marathon legend Baikuntha Manandhar and NAA officials were also present on the occasion.