Nepali U-19 cricket team qualified for the ICC U-19 World Cup and the senior cricket team qualified for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers but had to be satisfied with fourth position in the ACC T20 Cup in 2011. [break]
Nepal won two gold medals in the South Asian Judo Championship but taekwondo players failed to qualify for the London Olympics. Nepal won a gold and five bronze medals in the First South Asian Beach Games held in Sri Lanka.
These are the achievements and failures of Nepali sports in 2011 in the international level.
On the administrative side, the first half of the year witnessed a dispute about the legitimacy of Nepal Olympic Committee.
In the latter half, the National Sports Council (NSC), taking a U-turn on its stance, gave recognition to the Nepal Olympic Committee led by Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, which is also recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama took the decision to recognize the Pradhan-led Committee as he received a letter from the IOC, which reiterated that there is only one NOC recognized by the IOC and that is none other than the one led by Pradhan.
Lama had sent a letter to IOC informing the existence of two NOCs in the country after the Supreme Court of Nepal gave a legitimate status to the NOC headed by Rukma Shumsher Rana on October 4, 2010.
IOC has made its stance clear on the letter that no other entity than the IOC is entitled to recognize a national Olympic committee.
As the two prime sports bodies of the country ended the standoff, Nepali sports fraternity can expect that both will join hands to develop Nepali sports.
Reforms
We are on the eve of New Year 2012 and we are talking about a “New Nepal.” At this juncture, the government, sports authorities and every sportsperson should think about reforms that we need for developing Nepali sports.
The Week would like to point out some issues, which we feel are the agendas for reform in the sports sector.
Government priority
Sports could be a means of national integrity. Sports help a nation for building its image. However, the state should keep sports on its priority list to achieve this. But the state’s investment in the sports sector is very low. Without investing, we cannot expect great achievements.
No top political leaders are ready to take charge of the Sports Ministry and National Sports Council (NSC) and only second-ranked political leaders get the chances to lead them.
The government had introduced National Sports Policy last year with a provision of establishing a high-level Sports Coordination Council (SCC) chaired by the prime minister to regulate, instruct and coordinate sports agencies as well as mobilize resources. However, the SCC is not yet formed.
The current structure of the NSC is untouched by the policy, though the Sports Policy Drafting Committee led by NOC President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan had suggested establishing a National Sports Authority (NSA) in place of the NSC and providing full autonomy to the national sports associations.
In this regard, well-accepted amendments are needed in the policy.
Act and regulations
The Sports Development Act 2048 governs Nepali sports. It was amended four times in the past. However, sports authorities still complain about it saying it helps the government to make political interference in national associations.
NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama had said that sports associations should follow the Olympic Charter and respect its rules while supporting the Pradhan-led NOC.
In Nepali sports, there is a debate whether any sports body in the country should respect the rules of international bodies like IOC and FIFA or to respect the laws of the land.
If this debate is never ending, can’t we amend our act and regulations incorporating the norms of the Olympic Charter and international practices? Yes, we can and we have to.
National Sports Council
The NSC is the body to govern all the sports activities in the country. However, cadres of the ruling party, rather than experts, get the opportunity to lead it.
The member secretary of the NSC changes every time the government changes.
The NSC itself has started drafting the amendments to be made in its structure. According to Lama, the NSC has been discussing three modalities for the formation of the NSC Board.
“The first model is for nominating 49 percent of its board members from the Sports Ministry and 51 percent through voting. Meanwhile, the modalities of either electing all board members or electing the member secretary and approving nominations made by him have also been discussed,” said Lama.
Simultaneously, the NSC should dedicate itself to development and regulatory works rather than making it an employment exchange for providing jobs to the cadres of the ruling political party.
Autonomy of national associations
National associations of all the games should enjoy autonomy. They must be free to choose their leaders through democratic process and to run programs for the development of the respective sport.
The NSC leadership should stop reshuffling associations to recruit its own cadres in the associations.
Associations’ duties
While talking about autonomy, every association should know its duties. Holding annual general meeting, conducting elections in time as guided by their statutes, maintaining financial transparency and hosting national competitions every year are essential duties of the associations.
They should also come up with plans of proper training for athletes and developing technical manpower.
Every association should perform professionally. However, most of the associations are very poor even in maintaining documents.
Infrastructures
Infrastructure is a major problem in Nepali sports. The government has agreed on principle to host the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal but we have the one and only Dashrath Stadium to host international events.
As Nepal is hosting the final round of the AFC Challenge Cup in 2012, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) cut the National League short to a single round and shifted it to Pokhara and Butwal. The reason behind it is the lack of infrastructure.
The Sixth National Games are scheduled to be held in Mahendranagar and Dhangadi two months later and the locals are still demanding the development of infrastructure before hosting the games.
The infrastructures, or whatever we have of them, are also not properly maintained. In this regard, we should upgrade whatever we have and invest in the development of infrastructure.
Training programs
Training programs are often conducted just before participating in a tournament. The NSC is yet to adopt scientific training methods. Scientific methodologies are not adopted in developing players, and sports academy culture is almost at zero level.
Conducting training program called Mission SAG, targeting the upcoming 12th South Asian Games to be held in India and announcing Extra Tall Sportsperson Training Program, targeting to develop physically tough athletes by NSC are a few good initiatives.
Sports Academy Nepal, which aims to develop technical manpower like coaches and judges, is less effective as it is yet to focus on quality.
After a few years, the group of coaches graduated from NIS (National Institute of Sports in India) will retire from NSC jobs and it could create a vacuum of quality coaches.
Only a few associations like football and cricket are sending people to attend courses of different levels conducted by their international bodies to produce technical manpower.
However, some associations are hosting Olympic solidarity courses for the development of technical manpower and it could be taken as a positive sign.
We should take the positive initiatives forward and bring plans that are more scientific in the days to come.
Encouraging young athletes
Without a system for developing young athletes, we cannot set targets in sports. Developing a curriculum of sports education could be one option while sports authorities can lobby for scholarships for young athletes with private schools and colleges.
Football, basketball, volleyball and cricket players are getting scholarships in different schools and colleges. We should take them forward on merit basis and manage them properly.
At the same time, NSC and sports associations can take initiatives to establish academies where young athletes get proper training and education facilities.
All Nepal Football Association is running a football academy but its outcome is highly criticized. Association like ANFA should revise their management.
To encourage young athletes, NSC and sports associations should develop more tournaments for school-level athletes. Tournaments like the President Cup should be turned into high-profile competitions.
Tournaments
Nepali athletes complain of not getting adequate match exposure whenever they lose crucial matches. It’s the duty of the NSC and sports associations to provide match exposure to the athletes.
Frequency of participation in international events should be increased and friendly tournaments should be arranged. The government and the NSC should support associations on this.
Meanwhile, the formats of domestic tournaments of every sport should also be revised and made more scientific and competitive.
If we take the example of cricket, a cricketer hardly gets 10 domestic matches of national level in a calendar year. If it is so, it’s high time to revise our domestic tournaments before complaining about performances of our players at international arenas.
Rewards and recognition
Social recognition, job security and self-identity are the key factors that are keeping youths glued to sports and motivating them to give it their best.
The government should come up with concrete and scientific plans to reward athletes who win medals or perform well at national and international tournaments.
Positive intent
Finally, the sports authorities at the helm should have positive intentions. We have seen many sports authorities speaking against political interference when they are not in power but they work on the contrary once they are in power. Some are even seen recruiting their political followers not only in the sports associations but also in technical jobs.
Thus, positive intent is the most important thing before starting other reforms.
Sports universally teach to keep positive intent since winning and losing are the two sides of a same coin for a sportsman. Then, why should people in power and authority forget the spirit of sportsmanship?
The week Nepali athletes of 2011
Karuna Bhandari
Athlete of the Year (Female)
Bhandari took 14 wickets, including a hat trick, in the ACC Women’s T20 Championship held in Kuwait in February. The tournament was her debut at the international level. Bhandari had a 20.5-1-68-14 bowling figure during the tournament.
Bhandari was an important player as Nepal reached the semifinals of the tournament and qualified for the ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2012 to be held in Guangzhou, China.
Rahul BK
Athlete of the Year (Male)
BK took 45 wickets in the calendar year. He claimed 21 wickets in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup held in Thailand and was adjudged the best bowler of the tournament. He became the highest wicket taker among Nepali bowlers in a single tournament.
Nepal finished runner-up in the tournament and qualified for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers held in Ireland.
He also claimed 21 wickets in the qualifiers to secure a place for Nepal in the ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in Australia in 2012.
He took three wickets in the ACC Twenty20 Cup as Nepal reached the semifinals and secured its berth for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in 2012.
Khatiwada is the sports editor with Republica.
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