The seventh National Games is coming to its end amidst poor management and unfit venues. Around 4,000 athletes from eight teams took part in the national sporting extravaganza. The Games might not be remembered for competition or records set by the athletes but it will be very hard for sports fraternity to forget as off-field controversies plus poor management apart from unfit venues dominated headlines. The Himalayan Times has prepared some Oops Moments of the Games:

FLAG UPSIDE DOWN

In a sheer disgrace, the organisers of the seventh National Games had hoisted the national flag upside down at the taekwondo venue in Biratnagar.

NON-OLYMPIANS IN TORCH RELAY

The opening ceremony of the seventh National Games witnessed an unusual moment when two former karatekas (incircled) joined the Olympians in Torch Relay at the ShahidMaidan Stadium in Biratnagar.

ANIMALS AT THE PITCH

The organisers so indifferent towards the National Games events that the handball match between Western Region and Central Region at the Tankisinuwari ground was halted time and again. As the venue did not have fence, animals entered the pitch.

UNFIT VENUES

The declaration of international-standard by the NSC Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista turned out to be a lie. Instead most of the venues were either under construction or not fit to conduct even the district-level matches. The preparation was so poor that the shooting events were held under tents.

ODD-SIZE POSTS

In another case of negligence, the organisers prepared odd-sized goal post for handball tournament. The officials were forced to prepare the new goal posts to conduct the matches.

 FINAL IN KATHMANDU

The organisers failed to hold the 60kg final match in kick boxing because of controversy. The semi-final match between BadriThapaMagar of TAC and Santosh Kumar Lama of Central Region remained undecided in two rounds and the tie-breaker third round also ended in a draw.

The jury declared Lama as the winner arbitrarily. Gopal Singh of Eastern Region had already advanced to the final but the management could not hold the gold-medal match due to the protest from TAC and now the NSC has decided to hold the final match in Kathmandu.

DENT IN ALLOWANCE

The National Sports Council had declared that it would give Rs 1,400 to all the athletes as daily allowance. But that too turned out to be white lie.

Players were forced to share beds and rooms with others, the local management team accommodated up to 15 athletes in one room. And the NSC deducted the money from the players allowances and the athletes were handed over the remaining amounts only after their events were finished.

SIT-IN PROTEST

Karate players of Tribhuvan Army Club protested the decision of the referee and sat on the match for hours not letting the organisers conduct the bouts.

The organisers were forced to postpone the bouts for the day. In similar incident, the Nepal APF Club cricketers left the women’s final match in last over after a dispute with umpires and Match Referee AdhipPradhan declared Eastern Region as the champions. The APF, however, received the silver medal.

‘NOT A BIG DEAL’

Volleyball player of Western Region Sanju Singh Rana beat referee BinayRai and the technical committee banned three players including Rana for one year.

National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista made fun of the incident saying it was ‘not a big deal’ in Nepali sports. Western Region even boycotted the third-place match.