Nepal was selected from among four shortlisted candidates announced by the United Nation's sports development wing for a grant of US$ 70,000 for a three-year project, All Nepal Table Tennis Association (ANTTA) President Chaturanda Rajvaidya told Republica on Wednesday.
According to Rajvaidya, the project is being funded by China and South Korea and their chief interest is development of table tennis.
"Our focus is sustainable development of table tennis for the disabled," Rajvaidya said.
The ANTTA president said that certain number of disabled people, including those affected by the decade-long Maoist insurgency, from all five development regions of Nepal will be selected for the training and will get regular allowance until the completion of the project.
"At present, we are planning to train 25 to 30 disabled people interested in table tennis at each of the five centers, but the number has not been finalized yet," he added.
Rajvaidya, who is also a member of the Nepal Olympic Committee, told Republica that the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) had sent a supervisor, Leanardo Olvech, to Nepal three months ago to see if Nepal is really serious about the game's development.
"The ITTF was impressed with our efforts and recommended the UN to grant this project to Nepal," he added.
In this regard, Christian Lillieroos, an expert on disabled table tennis was in Kathmandu for a nine-day training program that concluded at the Lainchaur Table Tennis Complex on Wednesday. Altogether 11 participants got certified for teaching table tennis to the disabled.
According to Rajvaidya, the project will start once the UN sets the date for the commencement of the project, which will be around mid-2015. "For the first year of the program, We will get a grant of $50,000, which also includes the cost of equipment," said Rajvaidya, adding, "And in the second and third year of the project, the grant will be $10,000 per year."
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