Sports
Anfa to reinstate ‘banned’ officials
The All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) is set to reinstate its four “suspended” officials, including three vice-presidents, on June 1.The All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) is set to reinstate its four “suspended” officials, including three vice-presidents, on June 1.
Anfa had suspended vice-president trio Karma Tshering Sherpa, Bijay Narayan Manandhar and Kishor Rai along with central committee member Pankaj Nembang for not attending the executive meeting four consecutive times.
The suspended officials, who had been campaigning against Anfa and its leadership, had filed a court case against the decision with the case still pending.
After disgraced Anfa President Ganesh Thapa was banned from international football on November 16 for 10 years on bribery and corruption charges, Fifa on May 11 had directed the Nepali football governing body to reinstate the officials by May 23.
Anfa had asked Fifa to extend the deadline as its statute seeks a 14-day prior notice to all the members to hold an executive committee meeting. “Our acting president (Narendra Shrestha) had asked the Fifa to extend the deadline and Fifa had told us to work on it. We told Fifa that their reinstatement will take place on June 1 from the executive meeting and it said it has no problem,” said Anfa Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Indra Man Tuladhar.
The then-president Thapa had suspended the four officials on September 28 appointing Bir Bahadur Khadka, Santosh Baniya and Mani Kunwar as vice-presidents along with Arun Man Joshi as member.
Fifa had also directed Anfa to hold fresh elections for a new president as soon as possible. After the suspension of Thapa, Anfa has not been able to fill the void with Shrestha serving as an acting president.
The Anfa CEO Tuladhar said Fifa’s second directive will be implemented following the reinstatement of the officials. “We will first hold the executive committee meeting on June 1 and reinstate the officials. The executive committee meeting
then will set the date for the general assembly which will elect a new president,” added Tuladhar.