Tue, 13 October 2026
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Tue, 13 October 2026
The curtain of the 20th Asian Games came down in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan last week that saw over 17,000 athletes from 46 delegations who competed across 43 sports. It is regarded as the second largest sporting event of the world after Summer Olympics. The two-week long multi-sport event of Asia witnessed excellent athletic achievement where 53 world records and dozens of continental milestones were set. Uniting the continent under the official motto, “Imagine One Asia,” Japan hosted the Asian Games for the third time, following Tokyo 1958 and Hiroshima 1994. The sporting powerhouse China once again dominated the continental event securing 341 medals, including 169 gold, followed by the hosts, Japan, and South Korea.
Yet, for Nepal, the tournament offered a stark reality check. Our nation finished in 36th place with just two bronze medals, one claimed by Tenzing Sherpa in men’s karate and the other by our resilient women’s kabaddi team. Whilst these podium finishes deserve our warmest congratulations, the overall outcome falls well short of the ambitious goals set by state authorities under "Mission 2026". History reminds us that achieving success in this continental sporting fiesta has never been simple for Nepal. Until now, Nepal has managed only three silver medals and 25 bronze medals. It took 35 years after our debut for Bidhan Lama of taekwondo to clinch our first Asiad medal in Seoul in 1986. Sabita Rajbhandari took our first silver in taekwondo in 1998 after 50 years of participation. After two decades, Nepal bagged its second silver in 2018 from paragliding. Karateka Arika Gurung clinched nation's third silver in Hangzhou in 2023. These achievements are isolated flashes of brilliance rather than signs of systemic strength.
With an intention of breaking this pattern and surpassing the legendary 1986 haul, the National Sports Council launched special training under "Mission 2026". For the first time, athletes were called into a training camp three years prior to the Games. On paper, Mission 2026 represented a landmark shift. Athletes received specialized psychological, medical, and nutritional counselling alongside continuous dietary allowances. The establishment of the High-Performance Centre (HPC) and the National Sports Science Research Centre (NSSRC) allowed coaches to use modern technology to analyse physical capacities and fix key weaknesses.
Yet, despite this unprecedented effort, the core result in Aichi-Nagoya remained unchanged. The majority of our 135-strong contingent exited in early rounds. The reasons for this shortfall lie in the realities of Nepali sports administration and infrastructure. As officials admitted, the three-year programme was repeatedly disrupted by budget shortages, political instability, and election delays. More critically, as Minister for Education and Sports Sasmit Pokhrel noted, sport results cannot be produced overnight without continuous, long-term investment at the grassroots. Mission 2026 was a commendable step forward, but assembling elite squads years before a major tournament is like building a roof without a foundation.
Without structured school Physical Education programmes, modern regional training facilities, talent identification pathways, and regular domestic leagues, our athletes will always start at a massive disadvantage. As the Asiad flame travels to Doha for 2030, the government must not abandon long-term planning. Mission 2026 proved that scientific support and structured camps are essential. The true challenge now is ensuring these programmes run without political interruptions, rooted firmly in grassroots sport, so that Nepal can finally transform brief flashes of promise into lasting continental success.
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