By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – The National Sports Council (NSC), the organizer of the Ninth National Games to be held in Gandaki Province, has announced the beginning of formal preparations for the mega event.
A meeting of the main organizing committee of the Ninth National Games on Friday announced formal beginning of the preparations for the games. The ninth edition of the national games will be held in all 11 districts of Gandaki Province from October 14 to 20.
The organizing committee has decided to open its secretariats in Kathmandu and Pokhara soon. The games will be organized within a budget limit of Rs 600 million.
The meeting has instructed all sports associations to start preparations for the national games. The NSC has allocated Rs 900,000 for the training of departmental teams and Rs 4.9 million for the training of other teams. The sports governing body has decided to provide a daily allowance of Rs 2000 to the players.
Inaugurating the meeting on Friday, Minister for Youth and Sports Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj said that the ninth edition of national games was halted due to the Covid-19 but now there is no compulsion to further delay the event.
“Some infrastructures are yet to be completed. They have to be completed within a specified time,” said the minister.
The meeting was attended by Minister Gahatraj, NSC Member Secretary Tanka Lal Ghising, sports officials of all seven provinces, departmental teams as well as representatives of sports associations.
The Ninth National Games includes competitions in 36 sports disciplines. Altogether 11 teams including Non Residential Nepali Association as well as three departmental teams will be participating in the event besides the seven provinces.
Earlier, a meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to organize the mega sporting event from June 5 to 11 in Pokhara, the capital of Gandaki Province. However, the NSC failed to make necessary arrangements for the games due to the lengthy process of public procurement act for building infrastructures needed for the games.
