Raymajhi herself was witness to this as manger of the girls’ youth team that defeated a team rated higher than Nepal in their very first international outing.
It would be no hyperbole to say that this year has been the year of female athletes in Nepal. Be it in swimming, athletics, cricket or basketball, women and their success stories have provided stepping stones for the future.
Karishma Karki grabbed the headlines during the 5th National Games, winning a record 12 gold medals. She made a clean sweep of all her events. Similarly, Nepal Police’s Keshari Chaudhary and Jhanta Katwal broke existing records in tipple jump and weight-lifting respectively. Basanti Kumal Chaudhary of the Mid-Western Region also made it to the list of record wreckers with her javelin throw.
After the conclusion of the National Games, Nepali women went on to do their country proud internationally. They made their presence felt in the international arena when they reached the semifinals of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) T20 Championship, only to fall to eventual winner Hong Kong. This was a bitter sweet experience for Nepal as Rubina Chhetry achieved the feat of becoming the first Nepali to take a hat-trick in an international match. She dismissed five batters in one over. Nary Thapa added to the glory when she won the “Best Bowler of the Tournament Award.”
In the First Asian Youth Games the Nepal women’s basketball team defeated Kuwait to show that Nepali women are equally competent in a sport that critics had dismissed as having no future in this country. “We wanted to show that women are also capable of playing that game”, says skipper Nora Asha Gurung. “We were deeply saddened to see women’s basketball omitted from the 5th National Games. Our victory is an answer to that,” she adds.
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) president Binaya Raj Pandey is optimistic. His observations tell him that women players have a higher level of commitment than males. “The current surge in the number of talented players is not limited to Kathmandu. Talent has emerged across Nepal”, he says.
Although the signs are encouraging, women’s sport in Nepal is not free of challenges. Nepali women still cannot seek a safe career in sports. When they get married, they are forced to give up their athletic pursuits and limit themselves to family life. “We didn’t even have a female coach for the women’s basketball team”, says Nora Gurung.
All this goes to show that better facilities and encouragement will definitely go a long way for Nepali eves.
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