Kathmandu, January 5
Nepal Taekwondo Association today reiterated that the NTA was the only authorised body to conduct taekwondo activities in the country.
Following the continuation of the short term interim order not to implement the government's decision of forming the Nepal Taekwondo Federation, NTA General Secretary Deep Raj Gurung claimed that no other bodies were authorised to carry out taekwondo activities.
Reacting to the writ petition filed by the NTA at the Patan High Court, the division bench of justices Shyamji Pradhan and Dipendra Adhikari continued the short term interim stopping the National Sports Council from implementing the minister-level decision of forming the Nepal Taekwondo Federation and carrying out taekwondo activities from the NTA building on Lalitpur.
NTA General Secretary Gurung welcomed the court decision and reiterated that they had done nothing against the Sports Development Act and the association's bylaws. The NSC and NTA were in loggerheads after the latter refused to postpone its elective general assembly.
Gurung said the NTA's bylaws were amended as per the instructions of the NSC to implement the Sports Development Act. "We received a letter from the NSC asking us to amend the bylaws following the implementation of the Sports Development Act. And we conducted elections in our district and province bodies before the NTA elective general assembly as per the new bylaws," he said.
"The Sports Development Act has recognised national associations as sovereign bodies and they are independent to carry out their activities without taking approval from the NSC," he claimed.
Gurung also blamed the NSC of targeting the NTA instead of facilitating the process.
"It is the NSC that has worked against the Act. It does not have right to dissolve national association. The Act clearly says that two or more national associations with similar nature will be asked to acquire international affiliation within a year and the one with recognition from international governing body will become the national association, while others will get the status of clubs," he said.
NTA President Prakash Shumsher Rana said the association was dragged into unwanted controversy. "The NTA was embroiled into unnecessary controversies despite following the Sports Development Act and the association's bylaws," he added. "The problem was created by the NSC without any reason and we will fight for our rights."
Meanwhile, NTA vice-president Bhanu Bahadur Chand said he was nominated as the vice-president of the so-called Nepal Taekwondo Federation without his consent.
"I am NTA vice-president and I was unaware of my appointment in the NTF. I have already refuted my appointment through social media and I want to make it clear that I do not have any kind of relation with the Federation," he said.
The NSC had on December 20 formed the NTF dissolving the NTA and Nepal Taekwondo Union following the minister-level decision of the then Minister for Youth and Sport Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
