NSC bowls Chef de mission googly to NOC

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: The dispute over the appointment of chef de mission from Nepal in international forum of sports is likely to continue in the 16th Asian Games (Asiad) to be held in Guzhanghou, China from November 11-16.



National Sports Council´s (NSC) 75th board meeting held on Wednesday declared its member secretary Hari Babu Chaudhary as the chef de mission and member Samim Miya Ansari as deputy chef de mission for Asiad while the dispute between NSC and Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) deepens. [break]



While NOC has been claiming that only it has the authority of appointing chef de mission according to Olympic Charter, NSC has been claming that only the member-secretary has such right as per the laws of land.



The meeting also endorsed its previous decision of including 15 games -- weightlifting, badminton, judo, archery, wrestling, shooting, wushu, table tennis, boxing, athletics, taekwondo, cricekt, karate, soft-tennis and swimming --in the regional sports fiesta.



NSC had decided to include swimming in the Asiad following NOC´s clarification that swimming could not be included in the event as it sent the names of players for registration after the expiry of deadline. NOC is the authorized body to coordinate Nepal´s participation in international sports.



"NSC has decided to include 15 games in the event and it won´t be changed," said Ansari, NSC member and the president of the swimming association reshuffled by the NSC.



The dispute between NSC and NOC had flared up after the NSC, the apex sports body of the nation reshuffled gymnastic association headed by NOC President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan and NOC authorized kabaddi association and swimming association.



Regarding swimming participation in the event NOC has said that the deadline has already passed and it would not be possible to include swimming under the unauthorized leadership of Ansari.



Debate about Sports Congress



According to member Ansari, the NSC has directed its affiliated organizations, employees, coaches and referees not to take part in the Sports Congress to be organized by NOC on Saturday and Sunday. "NSC was compelled to take the decision as NOC ignored the legal provision of taking permission from NSC before conducting any type of sports related activities," Ansari said.



NOC, however, said that the law does not restrict them from informing about Olympic movement to the sports stakeholders. Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, NOC has requested the NSC to rethink about their decision and appealed to all stakeholders to participate in the congress.

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