1 June, Kathmandu:
President Bidya Devi Bhandari today said the sporting sector plays a crucial role in contributing towards building a healthy and prosperous nation.
Inaugurating the 8th National President Running Shield and School Sport Competition – 2072 at Dasharath Stadium here, she said the sporting fraternity would be of support in knitting the country in a thread of unity by creating a disciplined society.
President Bhandari noted the success Nepal’s sporting sector has had in the national and international competitions, and expressed belief that effectively undertaking necessary works in the sector would soon herald its success.
“If we can commit ourselves to the sporting sector with more determination and by keeping the past successes in mind, it will make a huge leap within the next few years,” President Bhandari said.
She added further, “I want to draw the attention towards the need for government, athletes, coaches and sport associations and organizations to coordinate and work in partnership for sports development.”
President called for engaging the youths – the country’s future – more and more in sports for their physical and mental development.
She said sports should be prioritized in schools as extracurricular activities, and added that the state must lend special focus on introducing such policy and motivate those involved in sporting sector.
“The government must bring motivational and promotional programmes to prevent the environment from getting created where people are deprived of sport,” she said, adding “It is necessary to modify the traditional games to promote them in the international level and reconstruct and build the sport related infrastructure damaged during the last year’s earthquake.”
The President also spoke of being mindful of the wide range of possibilities of sport tourism in the country and stressed on need for advancing the sporting sector creatively for good governance, discipline and prosperity in the country.
Acknowledging the importance of sports to establish good governance and make the country prosperous, Minister for Information and Communications Sherdhan Rai said that the government was committed to the development of sports.
“The country has entered a new era of lasting peace, political stability, development and good governance. The government is committed to prioritising sports from school level to raise prestige and dignity of the country through it,” he said.
He also stressed the need for all to stand together for the effective implementation of the constitution.
Secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Laxman Prasad Mainali said that the ministry was active in developing sports playing an important role for the prosperity of the country.
Saying that the competition is second-most big tournament after the National Sports Competition, member-secretary of the National Sports Council (NSC) Keshab Kumar Bista said the competition serves as an important step in the development of sports and athletes alike.
On the occasion, the President viewed a 1500 meters running race in the female’s category. The Armed Police Force personnel also performed a cultural show.
Organised by the NSC on the initiatives of the ministry, the three-day tournament was participated by the total 549 athletes from all the five development regions under different types of sports and coaches.
The competition with the theme ‘sports for health, sports for country’ includes eight types of sports including Taekwondo, Wushu, Karate, athletics, football and volleyball. (Photo available) RSS
