Asmita Khanal joined Nishan Gymnastics Club in 2001 when her mom noticed slow physical development in her. Her main goal at that time was to support body growth but eventually this sport grew into her passion. And, now she is an international female gymnastic player . She shares, “Primarily, I joined gymnastic due to my mom’s interest. But later I started enjoying it. However, I have never thought that I would perform in an international platform. Not even in my wildest dreams.”
Later in 2011, Asmita represented Nepal in Central South Asian Artistic Gymnastic Championship held in Dhaka as her first international game. Khanal says this game inspired to perform more and hug gymnastic as a career. Apart from this she has participated in several national and international games. Recently, she went to Kazakhstan to participate in Common Training Camp for Wag Coaches. “Despite being interested to engage in gymnastic, people are scared to join gymnastic due to the lack of props and uncertain future. Even if anybody wants to continue gymnastic, they must seek for any alternative career,” she expresses. Khanal has also been working as a gymnastics coach for several educational institutions in the capital.
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Khanal is not just limited to sports. She has stretched her ability into various fields including acting. When asked how you developed passion for acting, Khanal says, “In 2007, I took part in a school drama which was about prostitution. I was not intending to participate in drama but when I got ample appreciation from the audience, it inspired me to do more and drag me into this acting world. I was in grade 8 by then.”
Khanal recently plunged her hands into big screen. Debuted as a supportive role in Priyanka Karki starrer ‘Katha Kathmandu’, Khanal has done three mainstream movies—‘Katha Kathmandu’, ‘Ghar’ and ‘Aama’. Speaking about differences between movie and theater Khanal said, “In theaters we have to perform in front of live audience and there should not be any mistake. But in movie, we can retake shots, so movies are comparatively easier than theater. However, we cannot compare these two fields.”
She believes one should be hard working and dedicated in interested field, which will give a better output. However, there are challenges and to satisfy her parents she too had to do a regular job. “Due to the uncertain future in art field, my parents pressured me to get a regular job. I worked four months as a Trainee Assistant at credit department of a bank. But I could not tolerate the hectic and monotonous work schedule. So, I left the job and get back to art field.”
She affirms, “People think that acting as a career will give them fun with good source of income, but that is not real. We have to struggle hard to reach that point. During the starting of my career theater artists were not paid. For two years, I too worked voluntarily. I have seen artists being depressed due to insufficient remuneration and uncertain future. So I request people to be prepared before entering this field.”
Currently, she is pursuing her MBA. And she is looking forward to take her gymnastic and acting career side by side. Her ambition is to establish a national level gymnastic academy hall and adds, “I want to set up a national hall where people can be trained in for international games because I have faced difficulties in practice due to the lack of proper hall, apparatus, and management. And, I do not wish anyone to suffer the way I do.”