Incentives must for good performance in sports

KATHMANDU, Oct 28: Martial arts players are training relentlessly for the upcoming 11th South Asian Games (SAG), while their fans are keeping their fingers crossed for good results. There are chances of Nepal faring better in the SAG than the First Asian Martial Arts Games held in Bangkok few months ago, where Nepali teams had to face a humiliating defeat. [break]

However, the players lack motivation because their future in sports is not secure.

“There are very few facilities for players here,” said wushu coach Ganesh Aryal who is currently training 10 players who have been selected to participate in the SAG. Drawing a comparison with India, he said that players in India get their jobs secured if they win gold medal but players don´t see a bright future here.

“They need to be physically and mentally sound. They need regular training and regular diet. If they continue to worry about these things how can they perform well?” questioned Aryal. Wushu team had created a historic record by winning 23 gold medals in the 1st SAF Wushu Championship but the medal tally declined to one gold in the 10th SAG, Colombo. Aryal said they were unable to retain good players because the players went abroad in search of greener pastures. All the players selected for the upcoming SAG are new ones.

“If the players are to perform well they need more training and for that we need more investment,” said Aryal. He lamented that training is done only a few months before games. “There is more expectation but less investment,” added Aryal.

According to Aryal, it is not only the government who should invest but the private companies should also come forward to sponsor players.

Senior judo coach Rishi Ram Pradhan said, “It´s not that we cannot win gold medals in SAG but it is difficult.” Nepal´s judo team had won three gold medals, three silver and two bronze during the 7th SAG. The medal tally declined to two silver and four bronze during the 10th edition of the games because the judo team were excluded during the 8th and 9th editions. Judo coach Birendra Ranjit said, “There was six years´ gap for judo team in the SAG, so we couldn´t perform well in Colombo.”

According to coach Ranjit, judo was excluded twice in the regional games because of the ineffective lobbying of the Nepal Judo Association. Altogether 17 players have been selected from Judo for preliminary training.

Judo instructor Deepak Shrestha, gold medalist of 5th national games, said there are chances of winning gold medals as the players are training regularly but they lack motivation as the sports owing to delay in the release of budget by the sports ministry. “We are psychologically affected by the government´s ill management,” said Shrestha.

Unlike the judo team which was deprived of participation in the 8th SAG, taekwondo and karate teams were able to create a historic record by bagging 14 gold medals each.

“There is no charm this time,” said three times SAG gold medalist Deepak Bista of taekwondo. “The National Sports Council members are busy fighting among each other and have no concerns for the welfare of players,” said Bista. Bista, however, admitted that the new generation players were more demanding and they would lose interest if they are not given good facilities. Good results cannot be expected in such circumstances. Bista himself is participating in the SAG and is providing training to 30 players.

Meanwhile, the list of Karate players hasn´t been finalized yet. Only the district level selection has been completed and the regional and national level selection is slated for next month according to Karate coach Deepak Shrestha. “The training is going on but the delay will definitely affect our performance as the players are not receiving diet allowance,” said Shrestha. The delay in the selection of players is due to the weakness of Nepal Siterio Karate Federation according to Shrestha. “The selection would have been completed in time if the National Sports Council had provided funds,” he said. The Karate federation could not carry out the selection on time due to fund crunch. Shrestha, however, said there are two potential players -- Rojina Nagarkoti and Sunil Lama -- who are most likely to win gold medals.

There is one common complain from all section of sports that they need more funds in order to perform regular training. It is high time that all sections of society -- not only the government -- join hands and support the players for the long term development of Sports in Nepal.