Nepal needs to boost investment to claim Olympics medals

Kathmandu, July 26: Nepal’s participation in the Olympics started when six athletes debuted in the world’s biggest sports event as it arrived in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. Since then, 90 athletes (88 in Summer, 2 in Winter) have participated in different editions of the Olympics until 2020.

Nevertheless, Nepal has never won a medal in the Olympics to date. The seven athletes who are representing Nepal in the 2024 Paris Olympics, which kicks off Friday (July 26), are also highly doubtful to bag a medal as they have not received sufficient 

support and training to prepare for the feat.

“How can we expect medals at the Olympics if we cannot help our athletes level up and challenge athletes outside South Asia?” said Dharma Kumar Shrestha, general secretary at the Nepal Judo Association.

Judoka Manita Shrestha Pradhan is one of the seven athletes representing Nepal in Paris. “Manita has room for improvement, she can become better. Meanwhile, she cannot upgrade her performance with the available resources in Nepal,” Dharma added.

Dharma informed that the Association was provided with a training room at Dasharath Stadium two months ago that can accommodate 15-20 practitioners. “At the final moments, we had a room to train for the Olympics. That is all. A room,” Dharma said, adding, “We do not expect a medal this Olympics. However, we believe Manita will win a couple of bouts.”

According to the NSC and Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) officials, the two authorities could not provide financial support to athletes qualifying for the Olympics as they did not have the required budget.

“The NOC can spend focusing on the Olympics if we have such a budget. The NOC, however, mediated to hand over $750 per month to 10 athletes of 10 sports under the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since July 2022,” said Rajan Shrestha, Head of Finance at the NOC.

Rajan informed that the money was given to the respective sports associations so that they could utilise it for the benefit of athletes. 

“Alexander Shah trains in the USA and Duwana Lama trains in Thailand. They have their training areas and coaches. We gave the 750$ to the duo monthly and had them add further expenses from their pockets to train where they are. Authorities should stop believing that Nepali athletes can grab Olympic medals with such  investment and support,” said Jagat Man Shrestha, President of Nepal Swimming Association (NSA).

While sports stakeholders have been stressing the need for Nepali athletes to train under experienced foreign coaches, Alexander and Duwana were not training at the level of athletes from the Americas and Europe. 

“Despite training abroad, Alexander and Duwana are not preparing at top-class facilities as it is highly expensive. They did not train under our national coach as well. However, they will be accompanied by the national coach in Paris despite being unaware of the performance and preparedness of the duo,” said Jagat.

Except for the two swimmers, Nepal’s badminton star Prince Dahal had also trained abroad (Sri Lanka) for the Olympics. Prince will be an athlete without a coach by his side at the Olympics because Nepali authorities did not send the name of the coach for accreditation and visa process on time.

Table tennis’ Santoo Shrestha, athletics’ Santoshi Shrestha and shooting’s Sushmita Nepal are the other three athletes taking part in Paris. Santoo and judoka Manita are the flag bearers of Nepal. 

“Nepal has only been participating in the Olympics. There has never been a chance for medals as the sports sector has not received the required degree of support. The expectation for medals keeps eluding as the trend of lack of support continues,” said Deepak Bista, former Olympian.

Bista, who is also associated with the NSC of late, added, “We received Rs. 20 million this fiscal year to prepare athletes for the 2026 Asian Games under ‘Mission 2026’. With that amount, the government believes we can bring back a bag full of medals by defeating world-class athletes.” 

Nevertheless, authorities stressed that the government had been doing what it could to promote sports and produce quality athletes. 

“There is no targeted budget for the Olympics or Asian Games but the government allocates budget annually for the NSC to prepare athletes for international tournaments. Yet, we know it is insufficient,” said Ganesh Gurung, Section Officer at the Planning, Tracking and Development Assistance Section of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. 

Gurung also informed that the government provided Rs. 9 million for the transportation, lodging and food of athletes and officials participating in the Paris Olympics.

The sports associations and athletes know that the government cannot invest sufficiently in sports; therefore, they have also asked authorities to create an environment for the private sector to invest in sports as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

“The sports sector receives good support from corporate houses. However, they would invest more if sports were a part of CSR. It would reduce the burden on the government,” said Gurung.

If the state wants medals at the Olympics, former Olympian Bista suggested that the government must start investing in athletes for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.