9th National Games: Most events, including inaugural and concluding ceremony, to be held in Pokhara

Most of the sports events under the 9th National Games, including the inauguration and concluding ceremonies, will be held at the Pokhara Stadium, the main venue. Fifteen various games and some final competitions would be organized here.

The 9th National Games is taking place October 14 through 20. Seven hundred and two athletes have registered their names for the Games from Gandaki province. Special training is being held presently for all the games the province is participating in. The Province Sports Council said the closed training will be held immediately after the Dashain festival is over.

The Sports Venue Management Committee, the body responsible for preparing for the competitions under the Games, stated that both indoor and outdoor games would be held at Pokhara Stadium.

Athletics, badminton, cricket (women), tennis, boxing, volleyball (male), gymnastics, handball (men and women), soft tennis and squash competitions would be held inside the stadium. Similarly, Wushu, basketball (men’s), archery, fencing and kho-kho (women and men) events would be held at the stadium.

The men’s football game would be held at the Gosteghat football ground and Pokhara Stadium. The women’s football would be held in Waling, Syangja, Prithvi Narayan Campus and Pokhara Stadium.

Some sports venues are also out of Pokhara Stadium. Full contact karate and judo competitions would be held at the Pokhara Exhibition Centre, body building at Pokhara Auditorium, swimming at Fishtail Academy and table-tennis at Kolma Bahakot Samaj Ghar.

Likewise, the women’s hockey competition would be organised at Gandaki Boarding School and men’s hockey tourney at Gaurishankar Playground, weight-lifting at the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce, golf at the Himalayan Golf Course, cycling at Raniban, triathlon at Lake Side, paragliding at Sarangkot, rugby at Bhandardhik playground and kabaddi at Ranjit Party Palace.

All out of the 36 sports events under the Games except shooting are taking place in Gandaki. Shooting will be held in Kathmandu as Pokhara lacks the necessary infrastructures for this game, said Rajesh Gurung, coordinator of the Sports Venue Management Sub-committee.

The men’s cricket competition has already taken place in Kathmandu before this. The competitions under the 9th Games are being held in all but Manang, Mustang, Lamjung and Tanahu districts of the Gandaki province.

The repair, cleaning and refurbishment of the sports infrastructures has been started here when the Games are two weeks away. Laxman Yogi, Chief of the Western Region Sports Development Committee, National Sports Council (NSC), said works on upgrading the sports infrastructures are under way to make the 9th National Games grandiose.

According to him, works like making the sports venues fit for the games, cleaning and improving the infrastructures and management of lights and water supply and sanitation facilities are being carried out at present. These works would be completed by Dashain time.