Chaudhary said that a person of the stature of member-secretary couldn´t go in any other role. "I wouldn´t go without the role of chef de mission. However, the ministry is above me. Whatever the ministry orders, I´ll follow that," said Chaudhary at a press conference on Sunday.[break]
The fallout between NSC and Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) headed by Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan has left Nepali sports fraternity in a confusion as to who would lead the Nepali team in the Asiad scheduled for November 12-27 in Guangzhou, China.
NSC has presented Chaudhary as chef de mission but NOC is silent about appointing anyone for the role. Earlier, NOC had appointed its vice-president Umesh Lal Shrestha as chef de mission.
It was said that both the authorities had reached an agreement to send Chaudhary as chef de mission and to participate in the Sports Congress organized by NOC. However, the gentlemen´s agreement couldn´t be implemented because of the latest fallout between them.
NOC and NSC have been continuously involved in dispute after NSC dissolved the Nepal Gymnastics Association led by NOC President Pradhan. Their relations have furher deteriorated after NSC ordered different banks to freeze NOC´s accounts following a Supreme Court decision on October 4. The SC had given its verdict on October 4 after Kamal Bahadur Chitrakar, a member of the Rukma Shamsher Rana-led NOC, filed a writ against former home minister Bam Dev Gautam´s decision to authorize the NOC headed by Pradhan to run NOC´s bank accounts.
Chaudhary, who recently visited China for the preparations of Asiad participation, also informed that about 100 players and 16 coaches and managers will participate in the Asiad. He said that he was unaware of the participation of other six games other than listed by NSC.
NSC has been preparing for participation in 15 sports in the Asiad while NOC has registered 20 sports for the event. NOC has been excluding swimming while NSC claims that Nepal will not compete in chess, tennis, cycling, gymnastics, golf and kabaddi though the NOC has registered them.
Chaudhary said that NOC has received assistance for 30 players from the Chinese government and claimed that NOC has been keeping it a secret until now.
NOC , issuing a press release on Sunday, stated that International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will not recognize actions against their charter. "We are on the eve of the Asiad and we request all stakeholders not to conduct any action against the IOC charter," states the press release signed by the 15 members of the NOC executive committee.
"Any action against the charter may cause serious problem on Nepal´s participation in the Asiad," the release further states.
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