The sports governing body, National Sports Council (NSC), is all set to dissolve the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) ending Binaya Raj Pandey’s reign.
According to Nagarik national daily, Maoist central member Tanka Angbuhang, 32, is all set to become new CAN president.
“NSC is in the final stages of reshuffling CAN and there is likelihood of CAN being reshuffled on Oct 25 itself,” a senior official at NSC was quoted as saying to the daily newspaper.
The official added that NSC is bound to dissolve CAN after it failed to conduct election as per government directives.
NSC has issued a two-month ultimatum after Yubaraj Lama became member-secretary, however, CAN didn’t conduct the elections. “Due to achievement in international level and the upcoming international tournaments, we waited a few days, but they left us with no alternatives,” Nagarik quoted the official.
NSC Member Secretary Lama admitted that NSC is in the final stage of reshuffling CAN but said the date hasn’t been fixed. “We are discussing about various candidates and a suitable person will be appointed to the post,” Lama said.
Also on the fray for the president were Pandey and former vice-president TB Shah, however, it’s said that Aangbuhang has been nominated by former Prime Minister and Maoist President Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Nepal U-25 team is participating in the First SAARC Cricket Championship to be held in Maldives from October 31 to November 6 and soon after that Nepal will host the ACC T20 Cup from December 8-10.
The 32-year Angbuhang however declined to comment.
Angbuhang who hails from Taplejung is said to be involved in Maoist people´s war since 2054 BS. He was a Maoist candidate from the Taplejung constituency no 2 and also a member of interim legislature. He is claimed to have played cricket up to the age of 18 years, before he joined the people´s war.
NSC leadership had fixed August 26 as the deadline for conducting elections to all member associations. Later, NSC had extended the deadline by two weeks for conducting the election. But CAN did not hold elections even during the extended deadline.