NOC’s ‘new ExCo’ re-stresses legality, refutes worries from IOC, OCA

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 6: The newly elected executive committee of the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) under the leadership of Jeevan Ram Shrestha, which has been surrounded by legal challenges within the country, have re-stressed their authenticity.

The NOC issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon stating that ‘The committee led by Jeevan Ram Shrestha is the only legitimate Olympic Committee of Nepal’.

The re-stress from the NOC came a day after a letter signed jointly by James Macleod and Husain Al-Musallam over Nepal’s NOC and its recent controversies was revealed on news media.

James is Olympic Solidarity and Olympism365 Director at the NOC Relations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while Husain is the Director General at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). OCA and IOC are the governing bodies of Olympic-related activities in Asia and the world respectively.

As per the letter revealed by Hamrokhelkud.com, James and Husain have asked the Nepal Olympic Committee to keep them informed of the latest developments as there were legal challenges ‘raised prior to the NOC elections and in relation to the NOC elections’. 

The IOC and OCA, through the letter sent on February 4, have urged the NOC to work on a constructive and mutually acceptable solution with all concerned parties.  Until then, the IOC and OCA have decided "to wait until legal challenges are exhausted before taking a final position on both the proposed amendments to NOC’s statutes and the NOC elections."

According to the NOC, they have not much to share as the issue is in the court but they stressed that they were the legitimate ones.