Kathmandu, August 30

Nepali Paralympic team is set to leave for Brazil on Wednesday to take part in the Paralympic Games slated for September 7-18 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Athlete Bikram Bahadur Rana and swimmer Laxmi Kunwar will represent Nepal in the Games. Rana and Kunwar got the chance to participate in the event through wildcard entries. Rana will take part in the men’s 100m race with Chhabi Lal Chaudhary as the guide runner. Kunwar will swim in the women’s 100m freestyle event.

Minister for Youth and Sports Daljit Sripali bade farewell to the team. Treasurer of National Paralympic Committee Nepal and President of Nepal Para-Athletics Association Om Nath Shiwakoti is the Chef-de-Mission of the Nepali contingent, while acting President of NPC-Nepal Kedar Babu Shiwakoti and President of National Para-Swimming Association Saroj Shrestha are the officials.

The players and officials had to wait for about one-and-half hour for the farewell ceremony at the Youth and Sports Ministry. The programme was scheduled to be held at 11:30AM but Minister Sripali came to the ministry at around 1:00PM. The players had to wait outside the ministry which is not wheelchair friendly. “We were made to wait outside the building for more than an hour for the farewell from Minister Sripali. It would had been better if he had arrived on time,” a player complained. One of the officials said such things were common in the sports fraternity.

Minister Sripali, however, claimed that he signed in at the ministry on time and bade farewell to the players with great respect. “I reached the ministry on time and was busy with some official works,” he said. “I have a great respect towards players.” Chess team, which is scheduled to leave for Azerbaijan to participate in the Chess Olympiad on Wednesday, also waited the minister for nearly an hour before the farewell programme.