To make up for the apathetic treatment, Nepal Amateur Veterans Athletic Committee (NAVAC) organized a felicitation program to honor Maharjan and veteran tennis player Kamal Thapa at the Shangri-La Hotel on Saturday. [break]
Speaking at the program, chief guest and Prime Minister Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said, “Players never get old. Maharjan and Thapa have proved it by winning gold at the international level.”
“It is not just your success but the success of all Nepali people,” added the prime minister.
As he praised the triumphant athletes, Govardhan Nath Sharma, president of NAVAC, apprised the premier, who is also the patron the committee, that the senior athletes were being ignored by the National Sports Council (NSC).
“Veteran players have made the nation proud and we want to organize tournaments for the senior players. But the NSC has not supported us at all,” Sharma rued.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nepal pointed out Nepal´s poor performance in the Asiad due to dispute between officials of NSC and Nepal Olympic Committee.
“It has humiliated us. How shameful it is that we cannot settle even minor differences,” he said.
Maharjan had won the title of 10,000m road race on December 10 while Thapa had won the title of the above 45-years Veterans´ Tennis Tournament held in New Delhi in October.
Former minister Thapa, who won the title in his third attempt said, “It is the determination to stand up after every defeat that counts.”
Thapa who took up tennis when he was the foreign minister in 1998 said he will be playing as long as his health permits and is confident about maintaining his winning streak for a couple of years to come.
Sports help in the development of our character, personality and mentality, according to Thapa. The sportsman spirit helps us maintain discipline and in making decisions.
“Athletes have to decide within a fraction of a second. There won´t be time for meetings and discussions,” said the 55-year-old athlete hinting at the protracted sessions of the Constituent Assembly which is heading nowhere.
Sports helps develop character, nurture a healthy frame of mind and teaches one to accept defeat with magnanimity, said Thapa.
“Maybe because of my sports background I have been able to stand firm during difficult times,” he said.
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