Nepal’s top athletes will put their skills to the test when the long-awaited seventh National Games begins here from Friday.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari will declare the Games open amidst a grand ceremony at the Shahid Stadium which will inaugurate the country’s biggest sporting extravaganza. A total of 3,972 athletes from 30 sports disciplines will contest the Games that offers 294 —280 in individual and 14 in team events—gold medals.

The Games will be participated in by athletes from Eastern Region, Central Region, Western Region, Mid Western Region, Far Western Region, Tribhuvan Army Club, Nepal Armed Police Force (AFP) Club and Nepal Police Club.  Youth and Sports Minister Daljit Sripali, chairman of the organising committee, said all the preparations have been completed for the Games and Eastern Region is ready to host the grand event.

The opening ceremony will feature march-past of players along with cultural shows from 24 indigenous groups of the region, taekwondo drill from a team of Army and performances from school children. One of the seven Eastern Region Olympians Puspa Raj Ojha, Narendra Poma, Arjun Pandit, Dambar Kunwar, Menuka Rawat, Chandrakala Thapa and Tikaram Shrestha will light the Games cauldron.

For the first time in the Games’ history, National Sports Council (NSC) has announced cash prizes for the gold medal winners. The gold winners in the individual event will get Rs 15,000 and team event will grab Rs 7,000 apiece. NSC has already announced a cash prize of Rs 25,000 to each athlete who will break the national record in different sports disciplines.

Sunsari will host football, cricket, athletics, taekwondo, volleyball, karate, basketball, full contact karate, cycling, sepaktakraw, table tennis, kabaddi, wushu, handball, hockey, shooting, soft tennis and kho kho. Judo, gymnastics, ITF taekwondo and badminton will be held in Jhapa. Rajbiraj (weightlifting), Siraha (wrestling), Dhankuta (chess) and Udaypur (archery) are other venues in the region. 

Squash events will be held in Satdobato, lawn tennis in Pokhara and fencing in Kathmandu. Swimming events, bodybuilding, triathlon and marathon have been already organised.

Football

Nepal Police Club (NPC) got off to a triumphant start in the men’s football edging Eastern Region 2-1 in Dharan. In the Group ‘A’ game, Suman Lama and Buddha Lama scored for the departmental side. Deepak Rai replied for Eastern Region.

In the women’s event at the Duhabi Stadium, Far Western Region and Mid Western Region registered victories. Far Western Region defeated Western Region 1-0 and Mid Western Region overcame Eastern Region 3-1. All the teams, however, have already crashed out from the league stage. 

In the semi-finals on Friday, NPC will play Central and Tribhuvan Army Club will meet Nepal Armed Police Force Club.