The fact that professional sportspersons in Nepal don't earn a decent living is fairly well established. But even this common truth has a heartrending ring to it when it concerns a promising player like Hira Bahadur Thapa, the undisputed squash champion of Nepal since 1994.

Hira hails from the hills of Bakrang in Gorkha, from an average Nepali farming family like most others. He has not had any formal education nor has he received much formal training in the game he loves so much. But there is no doubting his love and dedication for the game.

If there is one man in this city who came from the hills with a singular intention in mind, and not only achieved but excelled at it, it is Hira Bahadur. When he came to Kathmandu in 1985, under the guardianship of his first cousin, Hira had only heard of the game but his curiosity was getting him. His cousin had been entrusted the task of finding someone who could look after the Battisputali Squash Club and he asked Hira if he would come along.

Hira didn't know the game, but was willing to learn. His job as caretaker of this single court squash club, one of the few wooden floor courts in the valley, provided him with the perfect opportunity to learn the nuances of the game. Eventually Hira partnered with single players, worked on his game and created a niche for himself in the small world of Nepali squash players.

Hira arrived in the national scene when he stood third at the 1992 Annual Mercantile Squash Tournament. Two years down the line, in 1994, he would win his first tournament, the Mercantile Tournament, and continue doing so for four more years. The club assistant had succeeded in beating even those who had played the game for years, and from then on it has been merely a matter of routinely winning all the games.

"The only formal training I have received in the game was when the Nepal Squash Racket Association sent me to Peshawar to train for a month under the guidance of Fakkar Jaman, a renowned Pakistani coach," he says. Hira has won every squash tournament played in the valley-from the Mercantile Cup to the Crown Prince Cup-although he hasn't benefited a great deal economically. "It's hard to make a living as a sportsman in Nepal," he says, "The average cash prize in the tournaments isn't very high, and even if you win all of them it is still tough."
But for Hira Bahadur Thapa there is no greater passion than the game, and though age has started telling on him (he is in his early 30s), he believes that he can still beat any Nepali challenger. What about the prospects of going international we ask him? "The international players are physically and technically better than us. It will take us a lot of time to get to that level," he says.

Hira may not ever play at the international level but he hopes to see the younger generation do so. He is organising a training camp for younger kids who are interested in the sport. While it may still be a few years before we see international level players from Nepal, we may yet see Hira compete at the next SAF Games where the game is likely to be included.