KATHMANDU, Oct 24: Nepal Karate Federation (NKF) has signed a new sponsorship deal with Samjhana Laboratory Clinic on Monday for the upcoming 50th edition of the National Karate Championship.

The sponsorship agreement is worth Rs 1.5 million, with Samjhana Laboratory providing Rs 850,000 in cash and the rest in kind.

As per the agreement, the tournament will be conducted under the name of Samjhana Lab National Karate Championship.

NKF’s President Dawa Gurung and Samjhana Laboratory’s Udip Joshi signed the agreement paper at a ceremony organized in the capital.

According to the agreement, Samjhana Laboratory will provide ambulance service and medical team during the tournament scheduled from November 9 through 11. Likewise, it will also conduct lab tests for 23 national team players until the 2018 Asian Games and provide them with two sets of kits as well. 

The tournament to be held in Kathmandu will see 184 players competing for 23 gold medals in the men’s eight categories and the women’s seven weight categories along with singles and team kata events.  

According to the tournament’s coordinator Dipak Shrestha, all the gold medal winners will be chosen for the national team and will be trained for the upcoming 13th South Asian Games, 2018 Asian Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

During the signing ceremony, Shrestha also said that the investment in karate was low and the expectation of medals in international competitions from this sport was high. 

“Whole the country expects international medals from Karate, investment in this sport is quite low. Players don’t even get sufficient kits for training and competition,” said Shrestha, who is a former national karate player. 

“However, such sponsorships motivate the whole karate community including players, coaches and everyone else. We will try our best to host this national championship maintaining international standards,” added Shrestha. 

Samjhana Laboratory’s President Joshi said that his organization was proud to help the sport that has a great history in the country.  

NKF’s President Gurung said that the federation was planning to host national level tournaments more often. 

“This championship is being held for the selection of the national team. But we will try to organize such nationwide tournaments in every three months,” said Gurung. He also said that the selected players will be provided training until the Tokyo Olympic.

 
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