Politicians along with Prachanda Played Football

Kathmandu- Politician Leaders of the Leading parties played a Charity Football Match against Television Comedians Artists here on Dasrath Stadium on Kathmandu on Saturday.

Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN UML) Jhalanath Khanal, and Vice Chairman of Nepali Congress Ramchandra Poudel along with other top leaders put on jersey against the comedians at a Charity Football Match organized by Television Art Workers Forum of Nepal (TAFON).

Being a famous politicians, he put on the jersey of world football star of Real Madrid Christiano Ronaldo. He was taught to play football by another leader of Maoist Barsa Man Pun 'Ananta'. Chandra Prasad Thapa 'Sagar' handled the goal post.

Television Comedians Artists lifted the trophy defeating the politicians by 4-1. Manaraj Shrestha completed a hat trick while Kumar Kattel scored the fourth and last goal for Comedians. Emerging youth Leader of Nepali Congress Gagan Thapa scored the consolation goal for the looser team.

Prachanda played as a striker around 10 minutes. He was given company by Jhalanath Khanal and Ramchandra Poudel. Prachanda touched the ball just twice. He did not run for the ball but spent his time in gossiping with Jhalanath and Ramchandra. At first, Prachanda hesitated to go to the wet ground. But when Deepak Raj Giri along with other came to receive him on the dais, he easily accepted to wear the jersey.

He was on the focus of the audiences. He was able to catch the attention of all the spectators before and during the match. 'Though I played football after around three decades, it impressed me a lot,' Prachanda said after he came out from the ground. He said the match was very important to raise the feelings of unity among all. Meanwhile Jhalanath gave priority to NOBLE Cause. Ananta giving focus to mutual understanding among the politicians said,'We'll score at an understanding.'

This was the first time in the history of Nepal that Top Politicians played football for a NOBLE cause. More than ten thousand audiences watched the match despite the heavy rain fall.

The tournament was held to raise fund for the treatment of Dinesh Baniya, former national volleyball player of Nepal who has been suffering from Kidney failure for last three months. Before two weeks Nepal National and International Players Association (NNIPA) and Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) jointly organized a charity football match for the same purpose. Around one million Nepali Rupees was collected from that tournament.