Accompanied by a cavalry unit of the Nepalese Army, a musical band of army led a rally of students and players in the capital on Friday to mark the week-long celebrations on the occasion of the Olympic Day.
The rally organized by Sports for All Commission under the aegis of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) kicked off from the quake-ravaged Basantapur Durbar Square with an aim to spread the message of Olympic Movement, which champions the idea of ‘Excellence, Friendship and Respect.’
According to NOC President Jeevan Ram Shrestha, the rally was organized to spread the core values of Olympic Movement and to establish peace and friendship through sports.
Nepal, which got the membership of International Olympic Committee in 1963, has been organizing various programs every year to mark the Olympic Day which falls on June 23, but this is the first time that the NOC is organizing the functions with so much fanfare, according to NOC President Shrestha.
“Altogether 56 programs are included in the week-long celebrations. National sports associations, various schools as well as army and police are actively involved in this program. This is the first time we are celebrating this event in such a grand scale and we will make it even bigger in the next edition,” said the NOC president.
The programs under the Olympic Day includes national and open championships as well as friendship matches and demonstrations.
“Basically, we want to spread the message that sports is not just for athletes but for all. Every one should benefit from sports. It is essential for establishing peace and friendship in the society,” he added.
About 500 students, representatives from different schools, Olympians, officials of United Nations, film artists, national players, army, police, APF, sports journalists, NOC officials and locals were present during the inauguration of the rally at Basantapur.
“We choose Basantapur for the rally as it was badly affected by the quake. We want to spread the message of unity,” said Shrestha.
XXXIII Olympic Summer Games