KATHMANDU: Football and Cricket are the two most popular sports in the country. Of late, the Nepali national teams in both the sport have also been winning accolades at home and abroad.
Only recently, Nepali national cricket team defeated Namibia twice at home turf in the ICC World Cricket League Championship. It was a back-to-back victory for the home team in front of a full house TU cricket ground, with a significant century by captain Paras Khadka in the second match.
Nepali national football team too only recently won two regional tournaments after a long hiatus of 23 years. A comparatively young side, thanks to the omission of several senior players on the charge of match-fixing, won the prestigious Bangabandhu gold cup in Bangladesh in January earlier this year. The team with almost the same set of players followed it up with the coveted gold medal in the 12th South Asian Games a month later in February.
Nepal defeated hosts India 2-1 to win a gold medal, leading to a rapturous and frenzied welcome to the national footballers back home.
The strides that Nepal is taking in both the sports however have not been easy coming. The Nepali football sector has been facing one challenge after another, most notably the long standing issue surrounding the controversial head of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). Ganesh Thapa is currently under suspension by FIFA, the world football governing body. He was suspended by FIFA for a long ten years after he was found indulged in financial irregularities during his stint with the Asian Football Confederation.
His suspension and subsequent distancing from the management of one of the most popular sport in the country also came as a blessing in disguise. As soon after, it came to light that senior Nepali footballers and an assistant coach were involved in fixing international matches that Nepal played abroad. This gave room for the entry of young talented boys, who made immediate impact and made the nation proud breaking the shackles of a 23-year-old drought for international tournament wins.
The mismanagement of ANFA and the governing of the sport of football across the country are yet to be resolved. Mr Thapa is still believed to be running the Association from behind the scene, with his confidante acting on his behalf. Hence, football in Nepal is yet to receive an efficient management body that would propel the game to higher grounds.
In the meantime, cricket management in the country was also taking a steep fall, thanks to political intervention in the sport that has been gaining increasing popularity among the Nepalis. Mercurial leader and captain Paras Khadka has had to come up with strong terms and conditions to ensure that they have a good management by their side to help them concentrate only on the game of cricket. However, to no avail.
Nepal has been making strides one after another in cricket, with wins against even a test and fancied side like New Zealand. But the progress has been marked with ups and down. With no major cricket league to boast of or an international cricket stadium, Nepal had to just content with a one win here and one win there.
To make matters worse, just when Nepal would be requiring increasing amount of funds for infrastructure development and facilities to its players, the International Cricket Council or ICC has suspended Cricket Association of Nepal or CAN. Announcing the decision at its board meeting held at its headquarters in Dubai on April 24, the ICC cited ongoing court case involving the CAN and the Ad hoc Committee established by the National Sports Council (NSC) as violation of Article 2.9 of the ICC’s Articles of Association. Article 2.9 prohibits government interference and requires free and fair elections of national associations.
This means Nepal will no longer be eligible to funding from ICC, and with the country at no position since the earthquake and economic blockade to channel funds for sports development, cricket development in Nepal is likely to take a downturn. Sensibly, ICC has not banned the Nepali cricket team from playing ICC tournaments, which will allow Paras and his team to play regular matches in the ICC calendar. Nepal is still in a chance to qualify for the world cup provided the team continues to win matches under the ICC World Cricket League Championship.
However, with no management to oversee their preparation and mobilization, it will be difficult for the Nepali colts to concentrate on the game. And the ban on CAN is certain to have some kind of impact on the team and their participation.
One can only hope that some sense prevails on the warring parties trying to take over CAN, and on the National Sports Council and Sports Ministry leadership to take this as a wakeup call and let the sport of cricket and to that matter of fact other sports as well to prosper by keeping them away from politics and totalitarian leadership. RSS (By Manoj Karki)
