Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, Tokyo Olympics was postponed in March 2020 due to the increasing covid-19 pandemic numbers. The event is now set to be held on Jul 23, 2021– Aug 8, 2021 behind closed doors with no spectators permitted. The opening ceremony will begin on Friday, July 23, at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. The opening ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. local time in Japan, i.e., 4:45 p.m. in Nepal Standard Time. There is a total of 339 events across 33 sports. 

Nepal has set 5 members, the Nepali team, to take part in the Tokyo Olympics. Gaurika Singh, Alexander Gadegaard Shah, Kalpana Pariyar, Soniya Bhatta, and Saraswati Chaudhary are all set to represent in the Olympics event. Gaurika who had gained the spotlight in the previous Rio Olympics as the youngest athlete at the age of 13 and bagged four gold medals for the nation during the South Asian games will lead the team in the march past in the opening ceremony as stated by Nepal Olympics Community (NOC). 

Gaurika and Alexander will represent Nepal in 100m freestyle women’s and men’s swimming event, sprinter Saraswati on 100 m race, Shooter Pariyar in women’s 10m air rifle, and Soniya Bhatta will battle in women’s 48 kg weight in judo.

The 26 member Nepali team will be led by member secretary of National Sports Council (NSC) Ramesh Kumar Silwal as the chief of the mission. The other members include the coaches of respective games, nine from the NOC, four from the national sports council, secretary of the ministry of youth and sports Mr. Kedar Neupane, and other medical staff.

Despite having been participating in many Olympics games Nepalese players have failed to bag a medal in the events. Chief of the mission Kumar Silwal said that he’s hoped that the players will increase their personal records; as there is no hope of bagging any medals from the events to participate.

In recent days’ the case of marathon runner Gopi Chandra Parki came to light after he was denied of participation in the Tokyo Olympics. Parki was assured by NOC and Nepal Athletics Association had assured him of participation in the Olympics after he won the Nepalgunj Marathon held in November last year. After being selected from the qualifier Parki had spent 8 months of hard work to it but, NOC informed him two weeks earlier that he couldn’t be selected for the representation instead Saraswati Chaudhary was picked in his place to represent in women’s 100m race without any qualifier. This behavior of NOC has demotivated many sports enthusiasts and NOC is heavily criticized.

However, NOC has defended itself stating that Nepal didn’t get enough quota spots for the Olympics. Former secretary of Nepal athletics association Mr. Sunil Rajbansi said that its hard-to-get quota in the bigger marathon events since regular follow-ups should be done in order to get quota in the event.  He expresses his doubt that incase of Parki the NOC didn’t get the proper follow-up. If that’s the case it’s very unfortunate that many talents go wasted due to the lack of competence of the people in the authority. These people are not only let their talents to rot but also treacherous to the country.