Kathmandu [Nepal], August 8 – Nepal has stepped up preparations for the 20th Asian Games by launching a closed-door training camp for athletes and coaches while sending its national boxing team to India for an intensive pre-games programme.
The National Sports Council (NSC) began the residential camp on August 3, housing the athletes and coaching staff at two hotels in Kathmandu. The programme covers competitors from 22 disciplines although athletes in several sports including wushu, taekwondo, cycling, swimming, tennis, table tennis, wrestling, canoeing and kabaddi are continuing overseas training camps.
The Asian Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 19 to October 4. Nepal is set to field 136 athletes – 80 men and 56 women.
As part of the final preparations a nine-member boxing delegation including seven athletes will leave for Guwahati, India on August 10 for a 40-day training camp at the Sports Authority of India’s National Centre of Excellence. Nepal Boxing Association Secretary Pushkar Raj Panta said the team will remain in India until departing directly for Japan.
The squad includes four male and three female boxers. Rabin Nepal is the only athlete returning from the previous Asian Games while the remaining six will make their Asiad debut. The team also features Chandra Bahadur Thapa who won a bronze medal at the 2025 IBA World Boxing Championships the highest international achievement in Nepali boxing history.
Boxing is Nepal’s most successful Asian Games sport having produced six bronze medals. At a farewell ceremony, the Nepal Boxing Association honoured four boxers with cash awards for recent international performances while the Nepal Olympic Committee urged the contingent to maintain discipline and compete at their highest level in Japan.
