No.44 May 2005 |
|||
INTRODUCTION
Administration, Physical Division & Population of Nepal
Nepal is divided administratively into 5 development regions (East,
Central, Western, Mid-Western and Far Western Regions) and 75 districts.
Currently there are 3,915 Village development committees and 58 Municipalities.
The population of Nepal according to census 2001 is 23.1 million fixing
an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent in 1991-01 decade. And its literacy
rate is 53.7 percent (population aged 6 and over).
Language and Religion
The official language is Nepali. Classification of population by mother
tongue, as reported in the population census 2001, shows that population
speaking Nepali as mother tongue is 48.98 percent of the total population.
And population speaking Maithali, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang and Newari
as mother tongue are about 12.4, 7.6, 5.9, 5.2, and 3.7 percent respectively.
Nepal is the only Hindu country in the world. The majority (80.6 %
of population) are Hindu. The second largest religious group is Buddhist,
constituting 10.7 percent of the total population (Statistical Pocket
Book-Nepal, 2002).
Cast System and Religious Background of Nepal
Religion has always been playing a central feature in Nepalese Society
but Nepal has never been plagued by any form of religious fanaticism.
On the contrary, Nepalese people love colorful rituals of all kinds
and have welcomed a variety of religious traditions and belief among
different religious community. Different castes, ethnic groups and
religions are mingling with each other living harmoniously and peacefully.
Historical Glimpse of Caste System in Nepal:
The caste system in Nepal has always been unique and has not copied
something from abroad. The reason is that it had to adapt and adjust
to socio-culture system with a very different background. Some of
those who accepted the cast system and its accompanying belief system
succumbed to the tendency to reorient away from Nepali society towards
India, and developed a belief that India was a superior culture. Indian
Hinduism was taken as the ideal. Those who have traveled outside of
south Asia have broadened their perspective and appreciate the limited
and archaic nature of caste. The abolition of caste laws (differential
punishment for offenders of different caste for the same offence),
in 1963, has done much to change the attitude of the people towards
the caste structure.
Modern Sports Background in Nepal
Only around 53 years ago, Nepalese people had the opportunity of playing
modern sports. Before sports was confined within the places of the
Rana regime (for 104 years) and Nepalese people had even less possibilities
of enjoying modern games. This whole century can be regarded as "Dark
Century" for Nepalese people. Now there are more than 45 games
National Association’s affiliated to various international games
organization and active for the development of sports in Nepal.
Table 1. Sports Facilities in Nepal under National Sports Council-Government
(Source: National Sport Council)
All the infrastructures under the National Sports Council (NSC) are
shown above (Table 1). Most of them were built around 10 to 20 years
ago and it is very difficult for NSC to spend money for the maintenance
of these infrastructures.
For example there are only two squash courts in Nepal under the NSC
and there may be less than a hundred regular players in Nepal and
still there is a National association for the game. Now one can only
imagine the performance on an international level by the Nepalese
squash players. Another example is there are 41 table tennis covered
halls in Nepal, but the performance of Nepalese Table Tennis players
is not very impressive on an international level. With only one gymnastics
training center and few private schools one can again imagine what
role is played by the National Gymnastics Association for the development
of gymnastics in Nepal.
According to the above table (Table 1), it is clear that 60% of the
sports associations have no sports facilities and no association office.
When the investigators of the present studies discusses with concern
sports coaches, it was noteworthy to mention their comments saying
"to give national association status to any sports, National
Sports Council should make a criteria that at least one separate playground
should be there and a minimum number of regular players should be
registered in that sport". The investigator thinks that with
the socio-economical situation in Nepal, the logic is justified to
some extent.
National Games - A Giant Step for the Development of
Sports in Nepal
Table 2. Structure of National Games during Various Times in Nepal
* Postponed due to the sad Royal Family demise. It is clear that the numbers of participants are decreasing from
the 4th National games when the competitions are held in a regional
system (see Table 2). There is a gradual increase in athlete's participation
from first to third National Games. At that time competitions were
held under zonal system where 14 Zonal teams had participated in National
Games. As mentioned, there are 5 development regions-which means five
regional teams along with the Nepal Police and Army teams taking part.
Therefore the NSC must reanalyze the National Games competition policy
to increase the number of athletes participating in the games. Many
sports experts in Nepal agree with the old system and University and
Corporation teams can be added to increase the athletes participation
in National Games.
The main purpose of this present study was to find out the relation
between number of athletes' participation in the various games in
National and International Games and the infrastructure dispersion
around the country. With this study the investigators aimed to give
an idea of how disproportionate sports infrastructure scatter within
the country and which will ultimately make it easier for future sports
infrastructure and development policy for the NSC and Government.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Record and data keeping in Nepal is very poor in the field of sports.
Within the sports society, there is no systematic record keeping system.
For this study various souvenir and statistical records were the main
source.
Altogether 1,996 athletes were studied form National Games, Olympic
Games, Asian Games participants and South Asian Federation Games medal
winners. Simple mathematical tools like means testing were used for
the analysis. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The total population of Nepal is 22.736 million (Cencus-2001). Out
of this population Chhetri, Bahun and Magar are the top three castes
with 15.8 %, 12.74 % and 7.14 % of the population respectively. The
Tharu (6.75%), Tamang (5.64%), Newar (5.48%), Muslim (4.27%), Kami
(3.94), Yadav (3.94%), Rai (2.79), Gurung (2.39), Damai/Dholi (1.72%),
Limbu (1.58%), Thakuri (1.47%), and Sarki (1.40%) are the top fifteen
castes and the main ethnic group population in Nepal. Apart from these
top fifteen cast and ethnic groups, there are more than 80 caste and
ethnic groups in Nepal living harmoniously. The majority (80.6 % of
population) of which is Hindu. The second largest religious group
is Buddhist, constituting 10.7 percent of the total population (Statistical
Pocket Book-Nepal, 2002).
Distribution of Sportsmen According to Caste and Ethnic Groups
5th National Games-Kathmandu
The distribution of caste and ethnic groups' sportsmen participating
in the 5th National Games-Kathmandu is shown below (Table 3). The
table is based on the souvenir published by National Sports Council.
The actual total number of participants is 1,424 sportsmen, but some
of the games athletes are missing in that souvenir. Fifteen games
and sports were included in the 5th National Games: Athletics, Badminton,
Volleyball-men, Volleyball-women, Table Tennis, Football-men, Boxing,
Swimming, Wrestling, Shooting, Karate, Kabaddi, Taekwondo, Weightlifting,
and Squash.
Table 3. Distribution of Sportsmen According to
Caste and Ethnic Groups 5th National Games-Kathmandu (2,058)
Note:
The distribution of the Nepalese population according to caste and
ethnic groups is different to the picture we get from the above table
(Table 3). In general population tables, Magar is the third largest
group on the basis of population, but their participation in national
games shows them at the bottom of the table with just 24 athletes
(1.81 %). According to the number of sportsmen who participated in
the 5th National Games, Chhetri, Newar and Bahun are on the top three
positions with 413 athletes (31.12%), 219 athletes (16.15%) and 180
athletes (13.56%), respectively. Most of the Newar people live in
the major cities and towns of Nepal, where most of the sports facilities
are situated in the urban areas and naturally they have ample of access
to these facilities. Tharus (Chaudhari) are like black African athletes
in terms of their body physique. Tharu athletes' participation in
the national games is always performance oriented with plenty of athletic
potential. The most surprising aspect is the Muslim participation
with only 14 (1.06%) athletes in the National Games. Yadav athletes
have just 34 (2.56%) athletes in the national games concentrating
on a few games only - namely Wrestling, Track & Field and Kabaddi.
Chhetri dominates on nine games (Shooting, Athletics, Karate, Boxing,
Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Kabaddi, Football, and Volleyball) in terms
of the number of sportsmen participating. Newars dominated in four
games (Badminton, Table Tennis, Swimming and Squash) and Yadav on
only one game (Wrestling).
In this way only six castes and ethnic groups namely Chhetri, Newar,
Bahun, Tharu, Yadav and Terai are able to make up the top three dominating
caste and ethnic groups over 14 games during the 5th National games.
This is an example of Tharu athletes, where they have dominated in
track and field games since two decades.
Nepalese Athletes Participation in International Sports
Nepal in Olympic Games
In the History of Olympic Games Nepalese Athletes participated in
the 18th Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 1964 for the first time. Since
then, with the exception of the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968, Nepal
has been continuously participating in the Olympic Games.
Table 4. Nepalese Athletes Participation in Olympic Games
Until the last Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, 64 Nepalese Athletes
have participated in the Olympic Games. In Olympic Games Nepal have
participated in categories such as Athletics, Boxing, Weightlifting,
Taekwondo, Shooting, Judo and Swimming. In 1988 at the Seoul Olympic
Games Nepali Taekwondo (demonstration event) players Bidhan Lama's
managed a Bronze Medal for their winning effort, but apart from this
Nepal has yet to prove its potential in the highest level of competition.
On the basis of caste and ethnic groups, out of these 64 athletes,
Chhetri participated with 24 athletes (37.50%) and they were followed
by Newars and Mongolians with 16 athletes ( 25.00%) and 14 athletes
(21.88%) respectively (see Table 4). On the basis of gender, only
12 female (18.75%) and 52 male (81.75%) athletes participated in the
Olympic Games.
Nepalese Athletes in Asian Games
Table 5. Nepalese Athletes Participation in Asian
Games
In the history of Nepalese athletes participation in the Asian Games,
Nepal have won only one silver medal and 17 bronze medals. A total
of 212 athletes from Nepal have participated in the Asian games and
that comprises of 180 male athletes (84.91 %) and 32 female athletes
(15.09 %) (see Table 5).
On the basis of caste and ethnic groups, out of these 212 Nepalese
athletes Newar had dominated with 69 athletes (32.55 %) and they were
followed by 54 Chhetri athletes (25.47 %) and the Mongolians with
31 athletes ( 14.62 %) and Bahun and Yadav being the fourth and fifth
with 20 (9.43 %) and 9 athletes ( 4.25) respectively.
Nepalese South Asian Games Medal winners (First three positions
only)
Table 6. Nepalese Medal winners in South Asian
Federation Games (1984-1999)
Out of 393 men and women medallion winner (Gold, Silver, and Bronze)
athletes studied in this section, Newar had dominated with 138 winners
(35.11 %) and they were followed by Chhetri, Bahun, Mongolian, and
Gurung caste and ethnic sportsmen with 113 athletes (28.75 %), 40
athletes (10.18 %) 39 athletes (9.92 %) and 16 athletes (4.07 %) respectively
being in the top five caste and ethnic groups (Table 6). The other
five castes and ethnic groups' share of medal winners was less at
below 5 % of sportsmen. Similarly out of 393 medal winners athletes
studied, 77 athletes were females (19.59 %) and more than 80.0 % were
male.
Newer castes' participation in national games was only 16.5 %, but
had a 25 % participation rate in Olympic Games (second top caste),
32.55 % participation in Asian Games (top caste) and 34.61 % medals
in the SAF Games dominating all other castes and ethnic groups in
Nepal. Therefore it is not surprising that the Newars with a total
general population of 5.48 %, had dominated in the overall sports
field. Most of the Newars do live in the urban city centers and towns
in Nepal. Economically and educationally they have maintained a higher
status among Nepalese Society and are more advanced, so they have
ample access to administration and state machinery. Besides these
reasons most of the sports facilities developed by the NSC are in
urban areas and this may be the reason that Newars are ahead of others
in the field of Nepalese sports.
The only favorable and suitable standard of Nepalese sportsmen can
be seen at the South Asian Federation Games, where Nepalese athletes
are able to achieve some success. However, in spite of the hundreds
of millions of government funds spent on the competition organized
in the form of National Games and preparation for the participation
in the SAF Games and other international competitions to improve the
standard of Nepalese athletes, there are no events which really satisfy
the people of Nepal with the performance of the Nepalese athletes
in SAF Games . In various SAF Games, Nepal's performance has never
come up better than 4th place in the overall medal winning table among
seven countries participating in the games. During the last SAF Games,
this was held in Kathmandu-1999, Nepal came in second position in
the overall medal standing with major contributing sports from Karate
and Taekwondo with fourteen gold medals each game. Now with Afghanistan
joining as an eighth country in the SAF Games and a reduction in the
number of Karate and Taekwondo events, Nepal will face more of a challenge
to maintain its overall medal standing in the Games.
Representation by Caste and Ethnic groups in National Sports Association
Table 7. Shows the representation of the National Sports Council
(taking into account President & General Secretaries) according
to Caste and Ethnic Group Representation in 45 Nepalese Sports Associations.
It is surprising to note that Shah and Rana have occupied more than
21 percent representation in the decision and policy making officials
without impressive representation in terms of number of participation
as well as medal winning in any games in Nepal (see Table 7). Newar's
representation in various associations is quite fair but other minority
caste and ethnic group's representations are much lower.
CONCLUSION
Due to twelve years (after 1991 New Multi Party Democracy) of unplanned
staff increases by various political parties' in Nepal, most of the
funds which NSC receives from the government is spent on salaries
of coaches and administration staff. The NSC must think differently
to become economically independent for the regulation of sports training
and competitions, within the country and for participation in the
international competitions for the development of athletic standard
to meet the intense top level international competition.
In spite of meager sports infrastructures in Nepal, more than 45
National Sports Associations exist in Nepal. Sixty percent of the
sports associations have no sports facilities and it's surprising
to learn that the majority of the associations do not have their own
office. President and General Secretaries of these associations run
their office through briefcase’s carrying stamps and letter
pads.
Although there is apparently no catechism in sports in Nepal when
developing infrastructure or organizing sports competition and training,
serious attention should be given to minor caste and other ethnic
groups according to their inherent talent and more opportunities should
be given accordingly. REFERENCES
1. Aamtya, D.L. (1996): Effect of Geography in Nepalese Track &
Field in Nepal. Revival Volume-1 Number-3, PP: 92-94.
S
2. Bista, D.B (2001): Fatalism and Development- Nepal's Struggle for
Modernization. Orient Longman Publication. Patna. PP: 29.
3. Bista, D. B. 1992. Fatalism and Development. Nepal's Struggle for
Modernization. Orient Longman Publication. Calcutta.
4. Gurung, H. 1994: Nepal Main Ethnic Caste Groups by Districts Based
On Population Census.1991.
5. Statistical Pocket Book Nepal. 1998. Published By: National Planning
Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics.
6. Statistical Pocket Book Nepal. 2002. Published By: National Planning
Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics.
7. Stiller, L. F. (1968): Prithvinarayan Shah in the Light of Dibya
Upedesh. Bihar. Catholic Press.
8. 5th National Games (2001): Souvenir. Press and Publicity Department
Publication. National Sports Council. Kathmandu.
9. Nepalese Contingent to 12th Asian Games Hiroshima - Japan (1994).
Souvenir Press and Publicity Department Publication. National Sports
Council. Kathmandu.
10. Nepalese Contingent to 13th Asian Games Bangkok-Thailand (1998).
Souvenir. Press and Publicity Department Publication. National Sports
Council. Kathmandu.
11. Nepalese Contingent to 14th Asian Games Busan / South Korea (2002).
Souvenir. Press and Publicity Department Publication. National Sports
Council. Kathmandu.
12. Sports and Athletes (2003): Nepal National and International Athletes
Association. Volume # 1: Jun-July. Mr. Diwakar Lal Amatya
President - National Association for Sports Health & Fitness 16/1 Nakabahil, Lalitpur, Nepal. Email: dlamatya@ntc.net.np ![]() http://www.icsspe.org/portal/bulletin-may2005.htm |