As earlier, Nepali sports sector is sure get entangled in power disputes between National Sports Council and Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC). The dispute between NOC, NSC and the Nepal Taekwondo Association after taekwondo ace Deepak Bista was sent Singapore by NOC as the Chef-de-mission to attend the meeting on May has not yet been settled.
NSC claims that only the member-secretary of NSC or the one appointed by him has the right to be Chef-de-mission as per the rule while NOC claims they hold the right to decide.
Following the longstanding disputes between two (NSC and NOC), Minister for Youth and Sports Ganesh Tiwari Nepali, also the president of NSC intervened on the issue, but the solution is still as elusive.
While NOC has decided to send record holder South Asian Games gold medalist Bista as the Chef-de-mission, Minister Nepali has corresponded NOC directing NSC Member-secretary Hari Babu Chaudhary to act as one.
“Both NSC and NOC claim that they have the authority to finalize the issue. I have asked them to seek a solution through dialogues,” Minister Nepali said, adding, “In the capacity of NSC president I have ordered NOC to appoint NSC member-secretary as the Chef-de-mission and I hope NOC will carry out the directives.”
However, NOC president Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan said that he was not aware regarding any letter sent by the ministry. “I don´t know about any letter from ministry and Bista will be sent as Chef-de-mission as he has already participated in the Chef-de-mission meeting. NOC has already reached a decision to this effect,” Pradhan said, adding, “We will wait for Bista a couple of days and if he does not contact us another person will be sent.”
Four players -- three from athletics and one from taekwondo -- will participate in the Youth Asian Games scheduled to begin in Singapore from Saturday.
Related story
Will Major General Pandey step down amid age dispute?
