Dhulikhel, March 4
The two-day Sport Leaders' Summit organised by the Nepal Olympic Committee ended with a nine-point declaration here today.
The Summit featured a total of nine sessions - Sports Act and Sports Law, Priority of Sports, Sports Infrastructure, Safeguarding in Sports, Sports and Performance Psychology, Training, Olympic Movement, Sports Medicine and Anti-doping, and Gender Equity - and it was participated in by officials and stakeholders from central and provincial sports bodies along with representatives from national associations. Senior Advocate Lok Bhakta Rana, Senior Architect of National Sports Council Tilottama Kandel Basyal, International Olympic Committee Safeguarding Officer Gobinath Sivarajah, Sports Psychologist Indra Gurung, World Coaches Co-founder Eugene Lee, Olympic Council of Asia's Head of Sports Development Tony Tarraf, Dr Saroj Krishna Shrestha, Dr Padam Khadka and OCA's Gender Equity Committee Chairperson Sheikh Hayat Al Khalifa conducted the sessions.
At the end of the Summit, NOC President Jeevan Ram Shrestha announced the declarations that included urging provincial and local level bodies to formulate acts and regulations to safeguard sports autonomy; expansion of Olympic Movement to all the stakeholders of sports; classification of sports disciplines to prioritise for overall development; and taking initiation of gender equity and formulate plans and polices to discourage sexual harassment and betting in sports.
The NOC also decided to urge concerned bodies to arrange training for athletes, coaches and managers from grassroots to national level; ask all three local level governments to prepare infrastructure as per the classification of sports disciplines; request the government to establish Sports Academy in all provinces and open Olympic Academy at the central level; and take initiation to keep sports free from doping. NOC President Shrestha also thanked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal for taking his time out to inaugurate the Summit.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
