Asian Games body rules out Ministry’s claims, accepts only NOC entries
Sports Nepal Kathmandu: Contrary to claims made by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) on Tuesday that its entries for the 2026 Asian Games had been accepted, the 20th Asian Games Organising Committee has made it clear that only the sports registered by the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) would be recognised.
Just hours after the NOC announced Nepal’s entry of 30 sports at a press conference on Tuesday, the MoYS issued a separate press statement registering 31 sports for the same event. The ministry further asserted that its entries had been accepted by the Organising Committee.
However, a letter sent by Toru Kobayashi, Deputy Director General at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 (AINAGOC), states: “Your email came to my attention, thus I reply to you regarding the Entry by Sport from Nepal. Please be advised that AINAGOC does not entertain or accept any entry and/or request which is not submitted by the NOC. The sport entries must be submitted by the NOC, and we have already received the Entry by Sport from Nepal Olympic Committee by the designated deadline; that shall be the only entry accepted.”
Both the NOC and MoYS included 21 common sports, among them athletics, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, eSports, golf, hockey, judo, kabaddi, rugby, squash, soft tennis, swimming, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and wushu.
The NOC’s list additionally features archery, badminton, breaking and dance sport, baseball and softball, rafting and canoeing, kurash, modern pentathlon, skateboarding, skating, and climbing — none of which appear on the MoYS’s list.
Conversely, the MoYS registered taekwondo, gymnastics, equestrian, football, fencing, shooting, triathlon, rowing, and handball — all absent from the NOC’s submission.
The conflicting registrations come amid an ongoing dispute between the NOC and the MoYS over the legitimacy of the NOC’s recent general assembly, which re-elected Jeevan Ram Shrestha as president for a third term and elected Rajiv Shrestha as general secretary. The MoYS has declared the current NOC leadership illegitimate.
