Following nomination by NOC, Bista flew to Singapore on Monday to take part in the ´chef-de-mission´ meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday. [break]
NSC Vice-President Pitambar Timalsina said that if Bista has gone to Singapore as ´chef-de-mission´, it is unfortunate for himself and the Nepali sports fraternity. "I´ve no official information but I have come to know about it. I only can term Deepak´s action ´unfortunate´", said Timalsina.
NOC General-Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha informed that Bista was nominated ´chef-de-mission´ by the NOC board meeting on March 6. "Bista won a fourth consecutive gold medal in SAG and set a record in the region. NOC from its side wants to felicitate him by appointing him to the mission and we want to start a culture of acknowledging players", said Shrestha.
Shrestha also claimed that appointing the ´chef-de-mission´ for any tournament is the sole right of NOC. "According to the Olympic Charter, who to appoint is our sole right. We had been enjoying this right in earlier cases also", claimed Shrestha.
Meanwhile, Timalsina claimed that the Sports Act of the country allows only NSC board officials to take the charge of ´chef-de-mission´. "We know Deepak has celebrity status but we should not forget that he is also an NSC staffer. He also should respect the law", said Timalsina.
"When I came to know about the matter, I called on Deepak not to go to Singapore. However, he answered me that he was already on board," he added.
Timalsina said if Bista has gone to Singapore in the role of ´chef-de-mission´, NSC will take action against him. "If what we heard is true, we have to take action against him on the recommendation of NTA", said Timalsina.
NTA General-Secretary Deepraj Gurung said that his association will investigate the matter. He informed that NTA is meeting on Tuesday to discuss the matter. "After our young players could not participate in the qualifying event for the Youth Olympics because of NOC´s negligence, we demanded to pull out from the Games altogether. At this point, if Deepak visits Singapore as chef-de-mission, it is unfortunate", said Gurung.
Gurung claimed that NOC´s argument about felicitating the player is meaningless. "They do nothing about the participation of young taekwondo players in the qualifying event, but stage a drama of appointing a player as ´chef-de-mission´. They should stop all this", said Gurung.
Earlier this month, NTA had demanded a pullout from the Youth Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Singapore in April this year as the players could not participate in the qualification tournament.
The association had claimed that taekwondo players could not participate in the qualification because of the negligence of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Council and the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC).
The association had handed over a six-point memorandum to the ministry on March 2 demanding Nepal´s pullout from the Games as well as compensation to players and the association.
Bista is also a member of the NTA central committee.
The government had announced national felicitations for Bista on March 3 with a cash award of Rs 1 million.
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