Sporting Lesson For Better Outcome

Against the background of the curtains being prepared to be raised for repeatedly postponed ninth edition of the National Games, I confess a general desire to call a spade a spade, provided, of course, the right forum offering such leeway is available without any hassle. The talking point this time is the late Sharad Chandra Shaha, who served as the National Sports Council member-secretary and president of Nepal Olympic Committee concurrently for two terms.

Most senior national players of the 1970s and 1980s might testify to the fact that relations between this scribe and Shaha had a mixed ride. A close chronicler of events, Shaha was appointed NSC member-secretary in autumn 1978. His first encounter with this scribe perhaps proved to him a lesson in not making off-the-cuff remarks. 

When a Nepali squad in the winter of early 1979 was leaving for Sri Lanka to participate in the island country’s “national” tournament in table tennis team, Shaha was queried: Whereas our team was taking part in a foreign “national” competition, when could our own long-delayed national tourney in the same discipline be expected? Apparently at a loss for words, he said something to the effect: “How can I say anything about it?” TRN the next day carried a brief story that probably ran on page 1. Shaha was taken aback when he read it in the leading English daily.

Random recall

There were many such incidents in the course of his professional duty. TRN’s back files stand as timeless witnesses in black and white. A few instances might be cited here. It was Shaha’s successful initiative in floating the idea of a regular South Asian sporting meet, with each member state of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation hosting it on a rotational and alphabetical order. 

Nepal hosted the first South Asian Games — initially known as South Asian Federation Games — in Kathmandu at the request of the rest of member Olympic committees that Nepal, as the meet’s conceiver, also elect to play host to the inaugural meet. In the course of time, the number of events included for the regional meet steadily increased. Incidentally, Nepal’s most celebrated long distance runner Baikuntha Manandhar holds the South Asian marathon run’s best timing, registered at the Calcutta SAF Games more than three decades ago.  

Record large Nepali contingents represented the country in major championships like SAG, Asiad and Olympics at international levels. Similarly, Inter-City Games and National Games were also designed as a prelude to major world sporting events. The first National Games took off in autumn 1982 in Kathmandu, with teams from all 14 zones rubbing shoulders for berths at the victory stands. The grand spectacle assembled athletes representing various disciplines at a single city. On the very day the Games, TRN carried a story in which the holder of records in 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon events, Baikuntha Manandhar, rejected the 5,000 metres record attributed to him in the previous national athletic tournament. 

He said, of the three time keepers, one said he had completed the required distance and a second one called for one more round to be run while the third keeper hesitatingly said the race was over. When asked why he did not disclaim the record earlier, the ace athlete said he feared that disciplinary action might be taken against him. The NSC whose members exerted pressure on Manandhar to either deny the report altogether or apologise for the disclaimer. He did neither.

Two years later, Pokhara was the venue for the second edition of the National Games. The overall meet was impressive. But all the several hundred medals minted in Calcutta carried a defect.  They were engraved with only 12 oil-fed lamps to represent the 14 participating zones. But the story did not find space in TRN because of obvious pressure from “up”. I gave the story to Devendra Gautam, who highlighted it in his robust Nepal Post weekly.

Another novel launch was the Inter-City Games at Hetauda. An interesting feature was that the NOC members tried to give the impression that “all” Town Panchayats were enlisted as participants. A two-member team carrying Tribhuvan Nagar’s banner was announced. The duo’s only credential was that they hailed from Tribhuvan Nagar but were not fielded in the competitive segment. When this scribe reported this for TRN, the NSC bigwig wore long faces.  Today, there is no trace of the worthwhile undertaking that the Inter-City Games could be. 

Resounding record 

In the 1986 Seoul Asian meet, Nepal’s participation ended the medal drought it experienced since the country’s debut in the all-Asia meet in the 1950s. Its athletes collected a string of eight bronzes at the South Korean capital — four each in boxing and the newly introduced taekwondo. Needless to overemphasis: the resounding feat is yet to be replicated excelled. 

Shaha, through his NSC colleague Subarna Bahadur Chhetri, contacted me to locate Lal Kumar whose profile as a seven-dang taekwondo player appeared in TRN. The discipline eventually proved to be Nepal’s most prolific international medal bagger for our players. Regarding the 1986 Asian games in Seoul, this scribe contributed a detailed analytical write-up on the performances our boys displayed but not without mentioning that all the four boxing bronze winners were either knocked out or given an RSC (referee stopped contest). 

In three of the four weight categories, the boxers had a direct entry into the semis since not more than four contestants took part in the grouping concerned. All defeated semi-finalist boxers are eligible for a bronze each. In so exacting an exercise, mere participation told something of note. At the end of the day, I must say, there was a degree of mutual respect between me and the highly energetic and imaginative Shaha. At heart Shaha and his colleagues knew that I analysed facts. I, too, could not but appreciate the dramatic spurt in sporting activity during the two-terms of Shaha, who can be rated as the most successful in the sporting positions he held for eight eventful years. 

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)