Bagmati Province on Friday announced its decision to provide a monthly allowance of Rs6000 each to the gold medallists from the province in nine different games at the upcoming ninth National Games scheduled from October 14 to 20 in Gandaki Province.

Bagmati Province government will provide allowance to the players of football, cricket, volleyball, athletics, boxing, taekwondo, karate and swimming if they win gold medal at the Games, said Bagmati Province Sports Development Council (BPSDC) member secretary Surya Lal Bhandari at a press conference in Kathmandu.

“They will not be eligible for the allowance if they are already getting it from the National Sports Council (NSC),” said Bhandari, referring to South Asian Games (SAG) gold medallists who are already getting the allowance from NSC. “They will get an allowance until the next edition of the National Games and will be replaced by the new gold medallists. It is already listed in the province sports development act to ensure that they get the allowance.”

Clarifying the reason behind choosing only nine games among 36 events included in the national games, Bhandari said, “These nine games are in the priority list of the National Sports Council and it is just the beginning. Hopefully, we will be able to increase the number of games from the next edition and other provinces will also follow suit,” he said.

Bagmati Province also announced that it’ll participate in all 36 events at the Games and they would run a 45-day closed camp training before the game. “The selection process of the province will finish by September 5 and we are expecting to secure top position in the medals tally,” said Bhandari.

Bagmati Province will field 709 players in the Games. They have allocated a budget of Rs94.4 million for qualifiers, preparation and participation in the Games. “The Province Government has already allocated Rs50 million and NSC has released Rs4.9 million. We will demand the remaining amount from the Province Government and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning,” said Bhandari.

Bagmati Province Minister for Youth and Sports Ratna Prasad Dhakal said that the Province Government was focused on infrastructure development, motivation to players and creating a conducive environment to develop sports in the country. “We are also working on protecting players as many players are leaving the country in search of better opportunities lately,” he said.