NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama said that they have included the PLA Club as it had participated in the Fifth National Games as a departmental team. [break]
“We have taken a technical decision on the issue. After the integration process concludes, we´ll ask the government to take political decision whether to allow them to participate as a departmental team or not,” said Lama.
Meanwhile, a NSC source said that its leadership is also mulling over an option of forming a team of combatants before the the games begin.
PLA Sports Chief Santu Darai Parwana also gave similar indication. “Even as the integration process gets underway, the club could participate in the games,” said Darai.
However, he said that he would be happy if the integration process reaches to a conclusion before the national games.
Nepal Army had called back its players from the events participated by PLA Club during the Fifth National Games protesting the eleventh hour inclusion of PLA in the games.
TU to lead University Team selection
On the other hand, NSC started a process of forming University Team Selection Committee as it has decided to include a University Team in the Sixth National Games in the capacity of departmental team.
According to Kamal Khanal, the chief of the Sixth National Games Secretariat, NSC has formed a selection committee under the leadership of Tribhuwan University representative and including representatives of Pokhara University, Purwanchal University, Kathmandu University, Sanskrit University and University Sports Association. However, the stakeholders are yet to nominate their representatives.
“The University Team will participate in the team games, namely football, volleyball and basketball,” said Khanal.
NSC Member Secretary Lama said that the participation of the University Team will just be a symbolic one in the upcoming National Games.
NSC could consider age bar
Meanwhile, Lama said that NSC could relax the age bar it has set for the athletes. However, he said, that the consideration will be only for those athletes who already have participated at the international level or currently are on the top of the national ranking of their respective sports.
As per the rule, the athletes have to be at least 16 years to participate in the National Games. “I´ve asked technical committee to sort out athletes below the age bar,” said Lama.
“We´ll go through the cases by then and take final decision. However, considerations will be made only in the cases of non-contact games,” he added.
Participation of athletes like Ashlesha Lissanevitch (tennis) and Dipesh Dhami (badminton), who already have represented Nepal at international level, is still in doubt because of the age bar set by NSC.
NSC to insure athletes
Member Secretary Lama said that NSC will buy insurance policies for athletes for the period of the upcoming National Games.
Lama said the decision to buy insurance policies was made as players raised questions referring to a clause mentioned in the athletes registration form, which states that players themselves would be responsible if they met an accident during the tournament.
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