Oops Moments

Nepalgunj, April 26

The eighth National Games concluded at the Nepalgunj Stadium in Banke on Wednesday. Province-5 got a massive infrastructure in the name the sporting extravaganza, especially in Banke. The Games was extended to 15 days, unlike previous editions. It began on April 10 and President Bidhya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the Games eight days later. Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun pulled the curtains down on April 24.

A total of 5,211 athletes, including 2,825 men and 2,386 women, from 11 teams — one each from seven provinces, Tribhuvan Army Club, Nepal APF Club, Nepal Police Club and Non-Resident Nepali Association — took part in the Games that offered 333 gold, 332 silver and 480 bronze medals in 35 sports disciplines. Most of the venues were newly-built and none of them was completed on time.

Actually, the athletes competed at the under-construction arena, except for the new events. Swimming had to be shifted to a nearby hotel, while shooting was rescheduled. Interestingly, shooters could not compete in the final round of 10m Air Pistol after three of the eight weapons broke down during the qualifying.

The Himalayan Times covered the events from ground zero and collected some of the Oops Moments!

Microphone malfunction

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari was the chief guest of the opening ceremony and the organisers had spent the amount of Rs 10 million for the programme alone. Everything went smoothly except for the microphone used by the President to declare the Games open. A security guard, who was standing next to the President while she was addressing the ceremony, tried his luck to adjust the positioning of the microphone but thousands of spectators at the Stadium were left guessing what the President read out.

Wrong trophy

Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun handed over the prizes to the winners of the Games at the closing ceremony. But he gave away the runners-up trophy to third-placed Nepal APF Club and the second runners-up trophy to second-placed Nepal Police Club, thanks to the negligence of the Technical Committee of the Games. The Press and Publicity Sub-committee provided the Technical Committee with the medal tally but the latter made the greatest of the mistakes while typing the details. Interestingly, no one was aware of the error and Vice-President Pun brought the curtains down. The organisers later exchanged the trophies after the Technical Committee accepted its mistake.

Pistol shortage

The athletes are supposed to get the best of the facilities. But the eighth National Games will be remembered for so shortcomings — from infrastructure to sports gears. In one case, shooters were deprived of competing in the final round of men’s 10m Air Pistol after the organisers failed to produce one each pistol to the eight finalists. With no option left, the organisers declared the winners as per the scores of the qualifying round.

Watch out

The match officials are supposed to check every detail of athletes before letting them enter the arena and it is more sensitive in martial arts as the players keep contacts with each other. But the judo officials were so busy in their personal matters that a judoka — Subash Tamang of Province-5 — managed to enter the arena with a watch on his wrist. The referee later discovered the extra gear and confiscated the watch from the player, who was disqualified for taking the banned material into the arena.

Florescent bandage

Unaware of the new rules, a swimming player took the position on the diving board with florescent bandage on his foot. The officials changed the bandage with white-coloured one after checking the cut at his foot.

Flag down

The President of Gandaki National Sports Council, previously known as the Regional Sports Development Committee, Sampanna Shrestha was so excited that he ran for around 50 metres holding the flagstick alone. After receiving the flag from the NSC, Shrestha ran for a lap at the Nepalgunj Stadium but he had to stop because of the poorly managed flag.

Whistle power

The Sukra Volleyball Stadium has two courts with both hosting matches at the same time. There was no harm in doing so as the organisers were in rush to finish the tournament on time. But on many occasions, the players seemed to be confused by the whistle of the other court. Teams lost points for stopping play on the whistle of the adjacent court.

Taekwondo

The Games featured 35 sports disciplines and the organisers made a mistake in spelling taekwondo. The board kept outside the Nepalgunj Stadium had spelt the sport as Taewkendo under the illustration of the Games mascot, the Elephant.