Nima Gharti Magar with her gold medal. Photo: KantipurFrom the Nepali Press
Binod Pandey in www.ekantipur.com 9 February
Nima Gharti Magar, a 16-year-old girl originally from Rolpa, has won the first – and so far only -– gold medal for Nepal in the ongoing 12thSouth Asian Games (SAG).
Nima defeated Swechha Jatav of India and Mubashra Akthar of Pakistan in a woman's wushu event under the nanquan all-round taulo category on Monday. After winning the coveted medal, she commented: "Girls are not weaker than boys."
While Nima was gracefully performing her powerful wushu movements inside a covered hall of Assam Rifles in Shillong, her father, Mansur Gharti Magar, was queuing up for petrol in Lalitpur. Since he moved there decade ago, he has been making a living by driving his jeep to transport goods.
Nima's parents and brother in front of their shop in Lalitpur. Photo: Kantipur
After a friend called him up to break the good news, he rushed home to find that all the neighbours had gathered to celebrate Nima's success. "My daughter was different from other girls," said Mansur. "She always wanted to do something new, and I am very proud of her."
Mansur always encouraged Nima to chase her dreams. Four years ago, when she joined a local wushu club in Tikathali in Lalitpur, he happily bought her a wushu stick. But he did not only support her in hopes that she would become a champion: "I thought she could defend herself from men if she learnt wushu," he says.
Nima's mother, Puna, runs a small grocery shop at the family residence. Mansur had previously built a house in Tikathali, but he sold it to go abroad. Unfortunately, his plan did not work out and since then the family has shifted to a rented house.
Nima is currently a tenth grader at Nepal Don Bosco School of Siddhipur in Lalitpur. Mansur drops her off at Dasarath Stadium at 7 o'clockevery morning, where she practices wushu for two hours and then reaches school after two periods. She missed the recent SLC test because she was busy preparing for the SAG, but she is hopeful she will get to sit in the main exams.
Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun are relatives of Nima. Their children lived in Mansur's house in Kotbada, Rolpa during the war. But now, Mansur does not need to boast about his familial ties to the noted Pun couple – his daughter has earned a name for him, too.