KATHMANDU, Aug 16: A total of 31 officials and guests have headed for Indonesia for the upcoming 18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2. The list also includes three doctors, two physiotherapists, and four media persons. Nepali athletes will be competing in 29 sports disciplines in the biggest sporting extravaganza after the Olympics.
The delegation is led by Minister for Youth and Sports (MoYS) Jagat Bahadur Bishwakarma. Member Secretary of National Sports Council (NSC) Keshav Kumar Bista and Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) Vice President Dhirendra Pradhan will accompany the team. The latter two will represent Nepal in this edition’s as joint chef de mission.
Apart from 185 players, 48 coaches and 23 managers including six managers-cum-coaches for the games, the traveling delegates include three employees of the ministry besides the minister.
The government has allocated Rs 50 million for the Asian Games although the chances of Nepali athletes winning medals in the event are slim, according to the Nepali delegates.
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“Each visiting official and guest will receive a per diem of approximately Rs 8,500 during the tour,’’ according to a source.
“An additional amount of about Rs 30 million is already in the pipeline to cover the expenses in case the allocated money is not enough,” the source also claimed.
Similarly, three representatives of security forces are also heading for the event, including Nepal Army’s Colonel Prakash Raj Thapa, Nepal Police’s SSP Niraj Shahi and Armed Police Force’s SP Raghav Singh Thapa.
The NSC is also sending four other members – Treasurer Sailesh Karmacharya, and members Arvind Shrivastava, Arjun Bahadur KC and Dev Kumar Adhikari – to the marquee event.
The traveling team also consists of nine secretariat officials including director of the Training and Coaching Department of NSC Rim Bahadur Ranabhat, deputy director of the same department Bimal Kumar Pokharel, director of the National Sports Science Academy Nabin Uprety, and director of the national team preparation committee Arjun Bahadur BK.
The other officials includes chief of the Financial Administration Department Kapil Mani Pokharel, chief of the Logistics Department Sanat Bam Malla, chief of the Sports Medical and Investigation Department Tilak Bahadur Nepali, administrative officer of the Sports Development Department Jyoti Rai, and a member of the NOC Sujan Lal Shrestha.
Also, the fancy lists of delegates and guests comprises of press advisor to the NSC member secretary, Rohit Kumar Dahal, administrative officer Lokendra Kumar Basnet, and two Nepal Television reporters – Rajendra Pokharel and Bhoj Bahadur Bishwakarma.
The medical team for the games is led by three doctors and two physiotherapists who will stay in the stadia to support the players. The doctors are Gyanendra Bikram Shah, Raju Dangol Maharjan, Saroj Krishna Shrestha and they will be accompanied by physiotherapists Bikram Neupane and Laxman Adhikari.
A total of 185 players (129 men and 56 women) are taking part in the tournament that includes 48 coaches and 24 managers. Among the managers, six are coach-cum-managers, while one is an interpreter for the Japanese head coach of the Nepali football team Gyotoku Koji.
Nepal is taking part in archery, athletics, 3-on-3 basketball, badminton, boxing, cycling, fencing, men’s football, golf, judo, karate, kabaddi, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, sepak takrow, wushu, sports climbing, paragliding, kurans, pencak silat, skateboarding, wrestling and squash.
