Foul play

We cannot expect gold-medal football performances on a copper-coin budget managed with leaden hands.

The roar of the crowd at the Dasharath Rangasala has long been the heartbeat of Nepali sports that transcends political turmoil and economic hardship. Yet today, that heartbeat is faint, thready and failing. The beautiful game is being systematically dismantled in Nepal by a combination of bureaucratic ossification, administrative ineptitude, and a succession of governments that treat its athletes as disposable ornaments of state pride.