KATHMANDU:  Daraz, the leading online marketplace in Nepal, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) in a collaborative effort to promote the “Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics” and the athletes who will be representing Nepal at the Olympics.

The MOU was signed by Jeevan Ram Shrestha, President, NOC, and  Lino Ahlering, Managing Director, Daraz in a special ceremony of “Olympic Day 2021 Commemorative Event” held at NOC, Satdobato organized by Sports for All Commission. Daraz is part of the Alibaba Group; the ‘Worldwide Partner’ of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The partnership aims to strengthen and promote the cooperation between Daraz and Nepal Olympic Committee leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. It also further seeks to increase the visibility and the promotions of the upcoming Olympics as well as the athletes who will be representing Nepal in the said competition.

“It is a great pleasure to be associated with Daraz Nepal for the purpose of promoting the Nepalis Olympians, who shall be participating in Tokyo 2020 Olympic summer games. Nepalis athletes among 207 countries shall compete with their best efforts, zeal, and dreams to win. Besides, Daraz shall play an instrumental role in aware and promote the Olympic games in Nepal, which is a primary objective of the Nepal Olympic Committee.  During the Olympic game, it is celebrated as a World Sports Festival where billions of people will observe around the globe. NOC with the partnership with Daraz intends to facilitate the Nepalis to watch, be informed, and participate in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic-2020, which is from July 23 to August 08 through social media and various other interesting ways. I would like to thank Daraz for coming forward for the association with NOC and hope to continue the partnership in the future”, Jeevan Ram Shrestha, President, Nepal Olympic Committee said.

Likewise, “Sports and particularly the Olympic Games with its unique spirit traditionally unites people from all around the world and brings some joy in difficult times like now where COVID-19 has been impacting everyone’s life severely. Therefore, we are proud to be associated with the Olympic Games in Tokyo through this partnership. Excellence, respect, and friendship are the values of the Olympics and also outline what we from Daraz stand for. We are a young and authentic team striving for excellence and disruption in South Asia. We share the vision that anything is possible. On behalf of Daraz, I wish all the Nepali athletes a lot of success during this year’s Olympics,”  Lino Ahlering, Managing Director, Daraz Nepal said.

The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics are scheduled to begin from 23rd July and will host over 200 nations with over 12,000 athletes expected to take part.

The partnership is a positive step to ensuring that a tournament as historical as the Olympics receives as much visibility and promotion as possible throughout the country.