KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that sports is a productive sector. He was addressing an interaction program ‘Prime Minister with Sports’ organized by the National Sports Council (NSC) at Nepal Academy in Kamaladi on Tuesday.
“Sports plays an important role in introducing the whole nation to the world. When a player succeeds in an international competition, the whole country and its people are proud. Therefore, sports is not unproductive but productive sector,” said Prime Minister Oli.
Stating that there should be no discrimination in the selection of players, Prime Minister Oli stressed on the need to select the best players on the basis of their abilities.
He expressed his commitment to increase the sports budget in the coming years, saying that the players should demonstrate that they will win gold and not for silver and bronze. Stating that the 51 gold medals won by Nepal in the 13th South Asian Games (SAGS) was historic, Prime Minister Oli pointed out the need for all to follow the pre-match and post-match cordiality.
Minister for Youth and Sports Dawa Tamang said that the players have already received the incentive allowance on the day they took office, adding that an initiative has also been taken for the incentive allowance of the 13th gold winner.
NSC Member-Secretary Ramesh Kumar Silval said that better results could be achieved if more investment was made in sports and urged for an increase in the budget for sports.