Courting controversies, PLA Sports Club has been participating in the National Games since its fifth edition but its participation will end from the ongoing sixth edition with a graceful exit.[break]
PLA Sports Club had claimed silver and five bronze medals in the Fifth National Games but it won 17 gold medals and claimed 15 silver and 24 bronze medals in the sixth edition that will end on Sunday in Mahendranagar.
"PLA Sports Club´s existence is a complex issue. It is related to political issues like the army integration, constitution drafting etc. However, we wish for the success of army integration, which would end our status as a departmental team," said Prashant. "However, the club may continue to exist as a private sports club in future," he added.
Prashant was happy to see his club witness wonderful success in the Sixth National Games being held in the Farw-western Region.
"It was a great success for our club in the Sixth Natoinal Games," said Prashant.
However, athletes in the PLA Sports Club are not only Maoist Combatants, but also renowned national level players.
The PLA Sports Club has hired players like the 11th South Asian Games medalist karatekas Anu Adhikari, Malika Thapa, national wushu players like Biddya Maharjan and Sami Lama who played for PLA in the Sixth National Games. Not only civilian players but also ex-army players like Gyan Bahadur Shrestha and Gopal Bahadur Shrestha of weightlifting won gold medal for PLA Sports Club.
"We have hired around 60 to 70 athletes on contract basis for the Sixth National Games since last June," said Prashant. "Athletes were frustrated and wanted change. They were eager to join our club and we hired them," he added.
The players hired on a contract basis said that they do not follow the Maoist ideology and that they joined the club only for the Sixth National Games.
"I was associated with Balaju Karate-do and I was mulling selection tournaments before the Sixth National Games. My coach Dhruba Bikram Malla, who is associated with the UCPN (Maoist), suggested to me to join PLA," said Anu Adhikari, who won gold in the Sixth National Games. "PLA has also promised to pay us," she added.
Meanwhile, PLA Sports Club Member Secretary argued that players should have the liberty to play from the club of their choice. "All the athletes do not uphold Maoist ideology and we have not enforced our ideology on them," said Prashant.
Nepal Army had pulled out of the Sixth National Games expressing displeasure over PLA´s participation. "We express our displeasure with the NSC´s decision to provide departmental status to clubs in an arbitrary manner," Army Spokesperson Ramindra Chhetri had told Republica before the beginning of the Sixth National Games.
"Sport is for all. If Nepal Army had participated in the Sixth National Games, it would have spread a positive message among all Nepali people that the integration process has not been derailed," said Prashant. "There is no enemy in sports, there are only competitors," he added.
Altogether 210 athletes had represented PLA Sports Club in the Sixth National Games. PLA achieved its highest feat in wushu winning five gold medals as it won three gold medals each from ITF taekwondo, weightlifting and karate. Maoist combatant Sita Shahi, who has opted for integration, is also one of the gold medalists for PLA.
Though the success in the Sixth National Games has made Maoist combatants happy, club member-secretary Prashant is worried about the future of athletes. "We´ll provide them salary on par with our combatant players," said Prashant.
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