KATHMANDU: On October 20, 2022, during the closing ceremony of the 9th National Games, then-Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announced from Pokhara Stadium, “The next National Games will be held in Karnali.” At that time, he also handed over the sports flag to Yagya Bahadur BC, then Minister for Social Development of Karnali Province.

In reality, that flag was not just a piece of cloth; it was a historic opportunity for Karnali. However, even three years after Deuba handed over the flag, the 10th edition of the National Games has yet to be organized.

The date for the 10th edition of the National Games, initially scheduled for November 17-24, 2024, has already been postponed four times. Yet, there is still no clarity on when the competition will actually begin.

The provincial government has already invested more than two billion rupees in sports infrastructure. Still, there is no sign of the games actually taking place. When it comes to political will, the federal government’s interest appears even more negligible. Under such circumstances, the National Games, which were announced for Karnali, have fallen victim to widespread neglect and confusion.

Yet, at the same time, football tournaments in the name of former Prime Minister Deuba have already been organized. Various competitions have been held in the names of leaders and party heads.

For instance, the National Youth Union Nepal, the youth wing of the CPN (UML), organizes the KP Oli Football Cup in the name of the party chairman. This year, the Youth Union held the Oli Cup again around the birthday of UML Chairman Oli (February 23, 2025).

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Congress leaders and cadres pose for a group photo after distributing awards to the winners of the President’s Cup.

The third edition of the competition, which started in 2023, has already concluded. Recently, it has begun to be viewed as linked to Chairman KP Oli’s prestige. The union’s spokesperson, Niraj Paudel, says, “Those outside politics are trying to create a false narrative that our leader could not accomplish anything and had to go abroad. They are also trying to discourage youths who want to enter politics. That is why we organized the KP Oli Cup—to send the message that UML is a different party and this party works for the youth.”

The first and second editions of the KP Oli Cup did not attract much attention. In the previous two editions, the Youth Union reportedly spent as much money as the leagues organized by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA)—around sixty to Rs 8 million.

Despite spending such a large amount, due to low audience turnout, this year the union brought Italy’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to Nepal. To generate ‘craze’ for a tournament held in the party chairman’s name, the Youth Union distributed over 20,000 free tickets in a stadium with a capacity of about 15,000.

Interestingly, more than half of the spectators were left outside the stadium, and the tournament was conducted with limited entry. Spectators who came to watch the KP Oli Cup were reportedly assaulted by union workers for shouting slogans against the party chairman.

In the latest edition of the KP Oli Cup, over Rs 2.4 million were reportedly spent on prizes alone. Additionally, the best players in each category were awarded motorcycles.

The Youth Union claims that funds were collected through a levy to organize the tournament. However, there is no clear basis to believe that Rs 6 million to Rs 8 million were actually collected for the event. The sources and expenses of the KP Oli Cup are not transparent.

It is not only football; every year, a KP Oli Cup national T–20 cricket tournament is also organized in Pokhara at a cost of Rs 16 million. This cricket tournament is organized by the party-affiliated institution, Madan Bhandari Sports Academy.

Former Prime Minister and Chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist), Madhav Kumar Nepal, had previously expressed objections to sports competitions held in KP Oli’s name. Nepal, who led the UML for a long period, had said at an event on April 20, 2024: “There is a party that has opened an institution in the name of its living leader. They are holding sports competitions in their own leader’s name. It would have been better if it were in Pushpa Lal’s name. Excellent if it were in Manmohan Adhikari’s name. If it were in Madan Bhandari’s name, it would have been a matter of significance.”

Following the example of the Oli Cup, the Nepali Congress’s affiliated organization, Nepal Democratic Sports Association, has also started organizing the “President Cup Football” tournament in the name of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba. The prize money and expenses for the President Cup are also substantial.

UML Chairman KP Oli and other cardes pose for a group photo after distributing prizes to the winners of the KP Oli Cup.

Under the leadership of Nepali Congress leader Mohan Bahadur Basnet from Sindhupalchok, about 14 million rupees were spent to conduct the tournament. The winner, Sankata Club, received a prize of Rs 2.6 million . Similarly, the runner-up and organizer, Nepal Democratic Sports Association of Bagmati Province, was awarded a Rs 1.3 million prize “on the field.” Each category’s best player received Rs 265,000 .

Purna Singh Bohara, Secretary of the President Cup Steering Committee, argues that the tournament was organized to support the mother party under the direction of the central committee: “The cup was initiated in the name of the party president to promote sports.”

Bohara claims that while organizing the President Cup, Basnet personally contributed money from his own bag. The responsibility for organizing the tournament was shared by two others besides Basnet. Basnet, who also served as Minister of Health, Information, and Communications, managed the expenses prudently. Bohara says, “We are just the staff; Mohan Basnet took the lead in doing the work. Even Rs 500,000 were drawn from his wife’s account to get things done.”

Recently, the Maoist Centre have also joined the trend of organizing tournaments in the names of leaders. Under the organization of the Maoist-affiliated Sports Federation, the “Prachanda Cup Women’s National Volleyball Tournament” was held from June 10-14, 2025, at the Pokhara Multipurpose Covered Hall. The tournament reportedly cost Rs 6 million .

Anjan Dhamala, General Secretary of the federation, says that since Prachanda, when he was Prime Minister, had declared volleyball a national sport on May 22, 2017, “This tournament was organized in his name to do justice to him.”

Flattery Cups

In South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, there is a tradition of building stadiums in the names of political leaders. Following this example, the trend of organizing sports competitions in the names of party leaders has emerged in Nepal.

Not only living leaders but also deceased leaders have had various tournaments organized in their names.

For instance, the Madan Bhandari Sports Academy organizes competitions in volleyball, futsal, taekwondo, table tennis, basketball, football, full-contact, karate, wrestling, badminton, cricket, bodybuilding, road races, chess, archery, kabaddi, and hockey in memory of Madan Bhandari, who died in a car accident at Dasdhunga on May 16, 1993.

Following this, the Ganeshman Singh Foundation has been organizing boxing, fencing, and tennis competitions every year since 2018.

Similarly, the Nepal Hockey Association has, since the same year, organized the National Men’s Hockey Championship in memory of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and the National Women’s Hockey Tournament in the name of then-CPN (UML) leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Sahana Pradhan.

The GP Foundation, established in memory of Nepali Congress’s late president Girija Prasad Koirala, has also been organizing the “Girija Prasad Koirala Memorial Gold Cup Football Tournament” since 2019.

The Nepal Sports Association, affiliated with the Nepali Congress, along with Lalitpur Dojo, has been organizing the “Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Memorial National Karate Competition” in the name of former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai since 2021.

Similarly, competitions are also held in the names of the late children (Gyanu and Prakash Dahal) of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Under the Pragya Smriti Pratisthan, the Pragya Smriti Cycling Competition has been organized since 2021, and from this year, a bodybuilding competition has also been introduced.

Under the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Sports Federation, the RamBrikshha Yadav Memorial National Wrestling Competition has been held since 2018.

Former Secretary of the Bagmati Sports Development Council, Surya Lal Bhandari, says such competitions are often organized to appease leaders and their relatives. “Political parties are meant to do politics, not sports. There are already sports associations for sports! Organizing cups in leaders’ names does not contribute to the development of sports,” he says.

Investments by the council are evident in competitions organized in the names of both deceased and living leaders. According to the council’s 2023/24 data, it provided a budget of Rs 5 million to the Madan Bhandari Sports Academy to organize the Madan Bhandari Memorial Sports Competition. Similarly, it provided 5 million rupees as a grant to conduct the Ganeshman Singh Memorial National Women’s and Men’s Boxing Competitions.

A lum sum of Rs 700,000 were allocated for organizing the Sahana Pradhan Memorial National Women’s Hockey Tournament. Rs 700,000 were allocated for the Girija Prasad Koirala Memorial National Men’s Hockey Tournament, Rs 1.5 million for the Pragya Smriti Cycling Competition, and Rs 1 million for the Rambrikshha Yadav Memorial National Wrestling Competition, according to the National Sports Council.

After discretionary budgets began to be allocated in the names of deceased politicians and leaders, last year, Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) leader and former Sports Minister Birajbhakta Shrestha intervened to block such budgets. He successfully stopped budgets for competitions in the names of other leaders. However, he simultaneously approved a lump-sum budget of Rs 20 million for the Madan Bhandari Sports Academy, fulfilling the “duty” of power-sharing at that time. When he was a minister, real power was in the hands of the UML.

Zero utility

Outgoing Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel allocated Rs 550 million this year to organize the 10th National Games, which aim to showcase athletes’ talents. Last year, Rs 600 million had been allocated. Yet, the competition did not take place.

Former international sprinter and sports expert Raghuraj Onta says, “Since tournaments started being organized in the names of political leaders, national competitions have been neglected.”

Ironically, competitions organized by party-affiliated institutions to please their leaders are not given any significance or recognition by the relevant sports federations. Therefore, clubs and athletes who win these competitions vanish after the events end.

“A competition is held in a leader’s name and concludes. Other than being surprised that a player got a medal, the competition has no meaning,” says Yubaraj Lama, President of the Nepal Karate Federation and former secretary of National Sports Council.

Competitions in the names of leaders have now spread to provincial and local levels. For example, in Sudurpashchim Province, 8 million rupees were allocated in fiscal year 2024/25 to Kanchanpur for a Chief Minister’s Volleyball Competition.

Similarly, municipalities continue to allocate budgets for everything from ward-level to mayor-level cups. Lama adds, “Currently, sports are being misused to serve leaders. This harms the overall sports sector.”