Kathmandu, November 30

Nepal Olympic Committee President Jeevan Ram Shrestha today said the sports disciplines that can bring results would be given the priority for next year’s Asian Games.

“Like in the previous editions, we will not take part in the Asian Games for the sake of participation or mere exposure,” said Shrestha. “We will give priority to the result-oriented games and athletes,” he added.

Nepal came up with just one each bronze medal in the previous two editions of the Asian sporting extravaganza. Nepal had participated in 20 sports disciplines in 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou and fielded athletes in 23 sports in 2014 Incheon Games. “We had to satisfy with just one bronze medal in both the editions. Now, we cannot afford to repeat the performance,” he added.

He also announced a couple of plans to prepare the athletes for the Asiad. “Currently the country is in election mood and we will start our preparation after the poll,” said Shrestha, who himself is a candidate from Kathmandu Constituency No 8. “We will get the required funds from our international bodies and manage foreign coaches for the athletes apart from sending the selected ones to other countries for training.”

“We have already started our talks with different countries including Japan, China, South Korea and Qatar for the training and we will finalise the programmes once the elections are over,” he added. Shrestha also urged the national sports association to prepare the best athletes, based on their past performance, and those having potential to win medals. “We want the best athletes for the Asian Games,” he added.

Shrestha also informed NOC Vice-president Jyoti Rana and Executive Secretary Sujan Lal Shrestha were leaving for Indonesia to participate in the chef-de-mission meeting slated for December 12-14. “Apart from attending the meeting, they will also take the stock of the preparation and venues in Indonesia,” he added.