9th National Games: Players selected in Tanahun

Players have been selected from Tanahun for the 9th National Games to be held in Pokhara, the capital of the Gandaki Province.

The District Sports Development Committee screened the players after conducting competitions in different places in the district.

In absence of adequate infrastructure, the sports development committee has been compelled to select players. Committee chairperson Anil Pandey said it was challenging to run sports-related activities when the authorities concerned remained apathetic toward the development of sports infrastructures.

"There lacks sports infrastructure. There is no covered hall for inside sports and court for volleyball practice", he said, "We however managed to conduct sports for selecting players".

As many as 229 players have been selected from Tanahun for the 9th National Games championship.

The players were selected by organizing the competition for three consecutive days, according to the district sports development committee.

Among the selected are 28 in football (14 male and 14 female), 18 in volleyball (nine male and nine female), 14 in cricket, nine in basketball, five in table tennis, 12 in badminton (seven male and five female), 18 in athletics (nine male and nine female), three in chess, 29 in Karate, 20 in kabaddi (10 male and 10 female), 25 in ITM taekwondo (14 male and 11 female), 12 in taekwondo (six male and six female), 12 in full contact karate (seven male and five female), 12 in wushu (six male and six female) and four in boxing, the committee shared.

The select players would compete at the province level.

The Gandaki Province has obtained an opportunity to host the national games after around four decades. Earlier, Pokhara had the opportunity to organize the second edition of the national games in 1983.

As many as 38 games including two processions would be conducted in the national games. Most of the games would be held in Pokhara and some outside Pokhara.