“Make country proud through sports,” wishes Prez Bhandari to athletes
Kathmandu, Feb 1: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has urged the players, leaving for South Asian Game (SAG)-2016 to be held in India, to promote the country’s identity in the international arena through sports.
In a programme organized by the Nepal Sports Council (NSC) here today to bid farewell to the athletes, President Bhandari argued that it was a golden opportunity to promote country’s identity across the world. “Nepalis will take pride on you when you flutter the national flag in the foreign shore,” she said to players.
Stating that the sports was the medium to promote fraternity in the world, President Bhandari further appealed to the players to play the role of catalyst for unity among the South Asian countries during the SAG.
SAG, the multi-sport event, is the regional Games of the Olympic Council of Asia. It was first hosted by Nepal in 1984.
This year this sport event is going to be held in Indian cities Guwahati and Shillong starting from February 6 to 16 where eight countries, including host country India, are participating.
A total of 384 Nepali players are participating in the SAG-2017 and contesting in 23 different games.
On the occasion, Minister for Youth and Sports Satya Narayan Mandal expressed his confidence that the high morale of the players would help achieve success in the SAG-2016.
Similarly, NSC Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista believed that Nepal would repeat the victory in the SAG-2016 as the country recently achieved the success in football and cricket.
On the occasion, President Bhandari handed over a national flag to Minister Mandal, the leader of the Nepali team to SAG-2016, and expressed her best wishes to the players.
Present on the occasion were Minister for Information and Communications, Sher Dhan Rai, State- Minister for Urban Development Manju Chaudhary and Secretary of the Ministry of Sports Lazman Prasad Mainali, among others.
The Nepali team is leaving here for India on Tuesday.