Parallel body hampering Nepali Taekwondo

Whenever the controversy or dispute arises in Nepali sports, the question of authenticity has always been in the centre. The issue of how the sports will be developed has never been the agenda of those sports controversies that national has witnessed. Nor the issues of the sportsmen have been the agenda of those tussles. Rather which committee of the sports associations is Bonafide is the subjects of the debate.

The dispute over genuinely is most of the time hatched by none other than the Nation's sports governing body Nepal Sports Council. Whenever the politically appointed Member Secretary of the Council takes the charge, he focuses to install his loyal in the driving seat of the sports association. To meet his objectives,  Member Secretary dissolves the existing executive committee, then forms the ad hoc committee to hold the election of the association.

If the allegiant of Member Secretary get elected than the losing side or the dissolved body would claim they are the legal one citing they have the recognition from International sports association. If the situation goes vice versa, then the ad hoc committee led by the faithful of the Member Secretary will have national recognition. And the one recognised with the governing body of the world always has its upper-hand as it is necessary to go through them to have international participation. 

Olympic Committee row is one of the starkest example this situation. The quarrel in Olympic body only occurs when the political party supporting the nationally recognised body comes in the government or else the internationally recognised body has no problems enjoying the perks and benefits without any trouble. Football has gone through a similar problem and cricket has been trying to rescue from that situation with the help of International Cricket Council.

This time around, two associations of Taekwondo have been embroiled in the row claiming themselves bonafide. The seed of the row was planted when the Council registered National Taekwondo Union (NTU) affiliated to World Taekwondo Headquarters, Kukkiwon six years back when there was already Nepal Taekwondo Association (NTA) affiliated to World Taekwondo Federation. The then Member Secretary of Council Yuv Raj Lama registered NTU as a parallel Taekwondo body after being pushed by his political party then CPN Maoist.

The side effects of the existence of the parallel body occur at the time of international participation. During the players' selection of 18^th Asian Games, the dispute splashed in the media after NTU was allowed to select the players by the Council. But after the objection of NTA, Council did not allow NTU from selecting players. Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista also sided with NTA saying it is the only authentic Taekwondo association. 

Looking at the recurrence of such problems, the nation's sports administration tried to find the amicable solution by asking both the association to resolve the conflict in mutual understanding. Council gave them the seven days ultimatum to come up with a solution or else the players could not be included in any official tournaments of Taekwondo.

Despite the warning from the Council, both the associations have not buzzed from their instances. The intention of the Council may be to see both the conflicting party united but the associations have not met each other to resolve the issue.

The executive committee of NTA objected over the decree of Council saying it is the only authentic association recognized by WTF and ATU. NTA decided not to talk with NTU and wait for the action of the Council.

The parallel body NTU, however, decided to form the dialogue committee and remained opened to discuss in every issue taking the note of the players' right to play in every tournament.

Though it is not understandable why the Member Secretary changed his earlier stance of supporting NTA during Asiad selection row, it is said that he is trying to avoid the wrath of his party leaders. The political party which backed NTU now has united with the party of Member Secretary.

However, the toll of the parallel body has already been seen in the 18^th Asiad as Nepali Taekwondo team returned empty-handed. It is the game that Nepal earned a first silver medal at Asiad and has won 13  Asiad bronze medals. 

If the council is serious over bringing back the glory of Taekwondo, it should not hesitate to take a harsh decision and end the existence of parallel bodies. As the ultimatum given to both the association already had ended, let us hope NSC could find the right solution.