POKHARA, Oct 26: National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Ramesh Kumar Silwal has asked the event committees of the upcoming 13th South Asian Games (SAG), scheduled to be held in Kathmandu and Pokhara from December 1 to 10, to sell tickets for some of the events and utilize the gate money in developing sports infrastructures.

“You can sell tickets for some events and use the collected fund to build infrastructure of respective sports,” Silwal told the committee coordinators during a meeting in Pokhara on Thursday.

“Tickets can be sold for the games that attract a huge crowd, especially volleyball and football.” “The price of the tickets can be fixed through discussion at the local levels,” he added.

Silwal further said that the council has allocated certain amount of budget for different committees formed in view of the games, which will mobilize volunteers and manage transportation and accommodation for the guests and athletes during the SAG.

“The council will estimate the budget and send to the committees,” he said.

“Make the SAG successful. Make it memorable here in Pokhara”. Pokhara will host eight games including women’s football. 

The Pokhara Stadium is currently under construction. The turf is yet to arrive and the stadium seats are arriving. The works of track construction has been sped up. 

The budget for completing the remaining work at the stadium is yet to arrive which has led to speculation whether the SAG will be organized in the stipulated date after already postponing it three times previously.

The possibility of organizing women’s cricket in Pokhara is also on the cards, while the chances of holding paragliding are slim given the absence of other participating nations. Nepal, using the hosting rights, has added the adventure sport in the games.

The other games to be held in Pokhara are archery, weightlifting, paragliding, triathlon, handball and beach volleyball. But these sports, except beach volleyball, lack infrastructures due to the lack of budget.

But the NSC is still confident that the SAG will be organized in time.

“We should not have doubts over the timely organization of the SAG,” said NSC’s Administration Department Chief Kul Bahadur Thapa.

“The SAG is more the responsibility of the city than the nation,” he said while drawing the attention of stakeholders to save the pride of the city.  

 
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