Emerging from the board meeting, NSC Member Secretary Keshav Kuma Bista on Tuesday announced that sepak takraw, kho kho, fencing and triathlon had been added. Sepak takraw, fencing and triathlon have been included in the National Games for the first time.
However, the meeting has decided to hold a single taekwondo event replacing two taekwondo championships conducted separately by Nepal Taekwondo Association and National Taekwondo Union. "The meeting decided not to hold separate tournaments for a game of same nature. Thus there will be only one tournament for taekwondo. NSC will play a coordinating role in including players of both associations," Bista said, adding that a committee under coordination of Ganga Thapa Magar has been formed to solve the problem of two taekwondo associations.
Bista also informed that the opening ceremony of the game will be held at the Shahid Stadium of Itahari and closing ceremony at the ANFA ground in Dharan. The other games to be included in the events are football, athletics, taekwondo, boxing, karate, weightlifting, volleyball, table tennis, kabbadi, wrestling, badminton, wushu, judo, basketball, chess, handball, bodybuilding, ITF taekwondo, full contact karate, hockey, squash, shooting, gymnastic, swimming, lawn tennis, golf, soft tennis, cricket, cycling, and billiard and snooker.
He said that NSC board was also considering to including four different games - rock climbing, sambo, dance sport and rugby - as exhibition games. "However, the final decision will be taken considering the economic aspect for the overall games," Bista shared.
The estimated budget for the Games is Rs 290 million. Of this, the Ministry of Finance has already allocated 230 million and NSC has decided to seek an additional amount of Rs 60 million, said Bista. "The budget has increased since we have added few more games," he said.
A majority of games will be held in Sunsari and Morang. However, some games will also be played in Jhapa, Ilam, Siraha and Saptari. Sunsari will host 15 devents and Morang 13. Similarly, five games will be held in Jhapa and one each in Siraha, Saptari and Ilam.
The meeting also formed a 507-member main organizing committee under the coordination of Minister of Youth and Sports Purusottam Paudel. The committee includes all lawmakers and ministers of the eastern regions and other stakeholders. Similarly, a 21-member Games Executive Committee has been former under the coordination of Member Secretary Bista, which includes representatives from the Sports Ministry, Nepal Olympic Committee representatives, department heads of the NSC, NSC treasurer among other. Likewise, NSC has also decided to form 12 different sub committees to run the Games. The sub-committees will be coordinated by NSC board members.
As part of preparations for the games, the district qualifiers will be held from October 4 to 11 and the regional qualifiers from October 28 to November. Similarly, the meeting has also decided to deploy coaches at districts from September 1 to December 6 for the purpose. The players selected for the National Games will be provided special closed camp from November 18 to 25.
The meeting also held discussions on constructing of heating system swimming pool at the International Sports Complex Premises in Satdobato and upgrading Chyasal grounds.
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