South Korea, co-host of 2002 World Cup is once again dressed up for the 14th Asian Games to be held in the coastal city of Busan from 29 September to 14 October. So far it has been a hectic sporting calendar year for the Koreans who are used to staging mega sporting spectacles of this magnitude. Over the years they have played host to numerous international events small and big, one after another with resounding success. Besides excellent sports facilities and management, the Korean public's wholehearted participation and support has made a world of difference and significantly contributed to the success of the games.

Expectedly, Nepal will make her presence in the games. This time our participation is expected to be in a handful of selected disciplines according to National Sports Council (NSC). They have cited financial constraint as the principal reason behind their decision. Sounds great but that seems just another rhetoric because the number of events in which we are participating has soared to 11. As I write soft-tennis is the latest inclusion. I see no reason why we should be astounded should NSC add more events before the deadline for the entry expires. As a matter of fact, NSC has been doing this over and over for years and years. Unfortunately the system remains unchanged to this day, thus making athletes lives much more harder than one can think of. 

The eleven events are: athletics, boxing, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwando, weightlifting, karate, wushu, golf and soft-tennis.  Golf makes its debut at the games, while football in the thick of petty politics has been overlooked. Honestly speaking, what I strongly feel is that athletes who have laid down their lives to sports in pursuit of their lofty goals should be rendered every opportunity that comes by. Competing at the Olympic Games or the Asian Games is a life time dream for every athlete, undoubtedly.  Denying them the chance to compete would be doing an injustice to them.  Regardless of the outcome they should be allowed to display their mettle against the very best in the continent or world.  Only true sports enthusiasts can narrate you the agony, misery, suffering, humiliation and plights our athletes are undergoing.  Unquestionably they deserve a much better treatment.

Already the Asian Games bound contingent has swelled to 50 people and is most likely to reach the three digit figure upon touching down Busan. As long as the number is restricted to 50, I will have nothing to say. Instead I shall hold my breath in awe of NSC.  But if they repeat the mistake by packing the contingent with party activists, near and dear ones and cronies in the guise of officials it will be another fiasco. Assessing our chances at the Asiad,  in  short all I need to say  is   that we are most likely to end up without much success. Considering our very ordinary preparations it is going to be an uphill task for   the boys and girls to corner glory. I may have presented a pessimist conclusion but  my take is based on facts.

Since our Asiad  participation began  we have not tasted   success  in a big way. Whatever success we have achieved has come in a trickle. There is nothing to be ashamed of, specially when we have a jaundiced sports system run by politicized people whose priorities hardly favor athletes and sports development. We have to hail high those athletes who have brought honor and glory to the nation under the most demanding and compelling circumstances. Recalling our success, the 1988 Seoul Asian Games has been the best ever in terms of medals. We ended up with a rich haul of 4 bronze in boxing, followed by a silver in taekwando in the 1998 Games in Thailand. Although expectations are high on boxing, karate and taekwando this time, our athletes  must put in a superlative performance to give themselves any outside chances for a medal. Lets us hope that  success smiles on them.