Asma BK has been running all her life: she ran away from her home in Rolpa at age 13, became a child worker in a brick kiln in Kathmandu, ran from job to job. Rescued by a child shelter, she now runs marathons. On 27 April, Asma finished the <a href="https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon" target="_blank">London Marathon</a> in 3 hours and 27 minutes and was in the top 15% of 56,640 runners. She was representing Nepal and the organisation that helped transform her life, <a href="https://childrescuenepal.org/" target="_blank">Child Rescue Nepal (CRN)</a>. “This was my first time outside Nepal, and I was nervous because I had not run in a race with so many participants,” Asma told us after returning to Kathmandu. “Everyone was so much taller than me.”&nbsp; Today at 22, Asma is already a high-level trail runner. In 2022, she completed the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/trailrunnepal/p/Cns_UDUsfu8/" target="_blank">Manjushree Trail Race</a>, a 100-mile tack around the rim of the Kathmandu Valley, in 39 hours and 51 minutes: the fastest time for a female and fifth fastest overall.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250605120652_4a9c988cd19a270e49914ef867dff3d3b27a4a61f2aca6f9941463153bc0ccb3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250605120652_4a9c988cd19a270e49914ef867dff3d3b27a4a61f2aca6f9941463153bc0ccb3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1536" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Asma BK hits the ground running"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250605120652_d0b6a7d47da5f63ab1adf388cbc36a3a06666327edb8432754871e7c0eea34d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250605120652_d0b6a7d47da5f63ab1adf388cbc36a3a06666327edb8432754871e7c0eea34d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3024" height="4032" loading="lazy" alt="Asma BK hits the ground running"> </figure>  Asma was born in the remote mountains of Rolpa, and lost her mother when she was 10. Her father was away. At 13, she and a friend decided to run away from home. Like many Dalit families from Rolpa, she found work in a brick kiln on the outskirts of Kathmandu. “It was very difficult, we worked from five in the morning till seven in the evening,” Asma recalls. A 2021 survey showed that there were nearly 35,000 children between the ages of 5-17 working in brick kilns. The numbers of child workers on farms, in eateries or as domestic workers has never been counted. After two weeks of dusty work carrying bricks, Asma knew she had to get out. Her older sister found her a job in a guesthouse near the bus park in Gongabu. But the work was hardly easier. “The owner of the guesthouse would shout at me all the time, and it was very distressing,” Asma says. But she found a way to cope. One of her duties was to help the employer’s &nbsp;children with their homework, and Asma taught herself to read and write. The guesthouses around Gongabu bus park are notorious for being a hotbed for child trafficking. Shakti Samuha, a group established and run by human trafficking survivors since 1996, identified Asma as being at high risk of being sold to sexual slavery and rescued her. Asma was taken to a shelter run by the Esther Benjamin Memorial Foundation, where she studied and completed a vocational training program. The classes opened up a whole new world for her. “I didn't even have the confidence to speak up and write my own name, but soon I could converse in English with different people,” Asma says.&nbsp; In 2022, the renowned Nepali ultra-marathoner Mira Rai was holding trail running programs for girls who rescued girls. Like Mira, as a child Asma was used to running up and down mountains back home in Rolpa and she discovered that she had remarkable endurance and stamina. “Running came easy for me,” she told us. “As a child, when I ran my head cleared up and I would not think of my mother.” Asma trained for the race for four months, largely on her own. Having escaped her previous circumstances was a huge driving force, and not something she took for granted.&nbsp; “I had to put up with a lot of pain, and I felt that I have to keep working hard so that I do better in life,” she says.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250605120652_9e00f995e6ce9c2254ca79b7e217e2e05b6d9aa92d2006ccb85b6d0d8af9f72a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250605120652_9e00f995e6ce9c2254ca79b7e217e2e05b6d9aa92d2006ccb85b6d0d8af9f72a" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="2666" loading="lazy" alt="Asma BK hits the ground running"> </figure>  In London, Asma found herself running against athletes dressed up as refrigerators and washing machines. She expected to finish in under three hours, but says it was a hot day and the sun was very strong.&nbsp; Bhaskar Karki of CRN says the London race gave Asma new exposure and confidence. “I've found her more determined than ever to continue running and to represent Nepal on the global stage.” Asma has moved out of her shelter, and joined the Armed Police Force team to train at the Lagankhel track. Future plans? Asma says: “I hope to run in big international trail races and one day coach children in circumstances similar to mine.”

Vishad Raj Onta

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Asma BK hits the ground running

Ahead of the final <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ruckus-at-the-rangasala">SAFF Women’s Championship</a> game between Nepal and Bangladesh in late October, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), had to take over the sale of tickets for the game in Kathmandu after turnout exceeded the stadium’s 15,000 capacity. Thousands of fans queued up for hours to see the match, and more than 1 million people tuned in to watch the game on YouTube where it was officially streamed live, marking highest live viewership ever recorded in Nepal’s sports history. The women’s team <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-defeated-but-not-dejected">lost that final match to Bangladesh</a>, but the spirit and skill the Nepalis displayed shined a belated spotlight on Nepal’s female athletes. &nbsp; In 2024, Nepali athletes in many other sports besides football also showed notable performances on the world stage, and their compatriots attended the events in overwhelming numbers to cheer them on. &nbsp; In March, Nepal’s para-taekwondo player Palesha Goverdhan won gold during the Asian Paralympics qualification rounds, advancing to the 2024 summer Paralympics games in Paris, where she won the bronze in September. Goverdhan is Nepal's first-ever Paralympic medalist, and the first athlete ever from Nepal to bring home a competitive medal in the history of the Olympic Games.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241130051128_80167ae7dbb093df0f15032aa1452f604bf441e451660f0c281d71e5193686b9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241130051128_80167ae7dbb093df0f15032aa1452f604bf441e451660f0c281d71e5193686b9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal’s women excel in sports in 2024"> <figcaption>Para-taekwondo player Palesha Goverdhan celebrates after winning bronze at the 2024 Paris Paraolympic Games. Photo: PARAOLYMPIC GAMES / X</figcaption> </figure>  In August, Nepal hosted the 2024 CAVA Women's Volleyball Challenge Cup, during which the national volleyball team was placed second, having lost the final match to India.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241130051132_fd7ef44810b72cd193dd623e5c7aae659c5010d558146d8a12ebf9e351265bda.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241130051132_fd7ef44810b72cd193dd623e5c7aae659c5010d558146d8a12ebf9e351265bda" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="881" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal’s women excel in sports in 2024"> <figcaption>The national women's volleyball team won silver at the 2024 CAVA Women's Volleyball Challenge Cup in August.</figcaption> </figure>  Then in November, the Nepal U-19 women’s cricket team defeated the UAE at the Asia Qualifiers, advancing to their first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup beginning in January next year.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241130051132_991b8e096217de75c55810b5b7edfbf176a959b3a3258d84a29cd86551ada001.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241130051132_991b8e096217de75c55810b5b7edfbf176a959b3a3258d84a29cd86551ada001" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal’s women excel in sports in 2024"> <figcaption>Krishma Gurung's four-wicket spell during the Asia Qualifiers match against the UAE helped the Nepal team qualify for the 2025 ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup. Photo: ICC</figcaption> </figure>  Meanwhile, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sunmaya-budha-stays-in-the-running">Nepali ultra-marathon runner Sunmaya Budha</a> has run seven races across the world this year, most recently placing 11th overall and first among women at the 105km Tsaigu Trail in November.&nbsp; “Nepali women have been performing exceptionally across many sports events both individually and as teams,” says national volleyball player Saraswati Chaudhary. “And as our games get better, our quality of life has also begun to improve.” Most Nepali athletes attribute the success of themselves and their teams more to teamwork, dedication and drive than government support, funding, training, and infrastructure. The Ministry of Youth and Sports is the least coveted portfolio whenever a new government is formed because it is among those that has the smallest annual budget.&nbsp; In fact, Nepal’s leaders have been too busy with their own power play to pay attention to the development of sports in Nepal. Although senior officials are fast to take credit for any outstanding performance, they do not provide athletes with adequate support, and there is even less of that for female sports people. In fact, what is suprising is how well Nepali women athletes have been performing despite the lack of state backup. The latest example is the 10th Nepal National Games, which was supposed to run from 17-24 November in Karnali Province but could not be held. Officials have been mum about the reasons, whether it has been postponed or suspended. &nbsp; The national budget this year allocated Rs3.5 billion to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Rs600 million of which was set aside for the National Games. While sports in general gets the short end of the stick, female athletes are even more left out. Some of Nepal’s notable athletes in cricket, football, volleyball, and karate came together in a panel to talk about the state of women’s sport in Nepal at the Kantipur Conclave earlier this month. They discussed, sometimes emotionally, what has prevented women from performing better in consequential tournaments. Regardless of sport, their concerns were similar: lack of infrastructure, investment, and training for female athletes.&nbsp; While the men’s teams have league, club, and other domestic games and tournaments, the women do not.&nbsp; Nepali women’s football team ranks 99th in the world, and is many notches higher that the men’s national football team, which is ranked an inglorious 176th globally. Even so, the women footballers do not get the opportunities as their male counterparts to participate in competitive domestic league and club games to gain exposure and experience. &nbsp; The same is the case for women in cricket. Nepal’s national women’s team captain Indu Barma has publicly poured scorn at the lack of domestic matches and league tournaments for female cricketers in the country, even as men have the opportunity to play in the upcoming <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">Nepal Premier League</a>. This comes as other South Asian nations expand investment into sports, and women’s sports in particular.&nbsp; Days after Nepal lost the SAFF Women’s cup, a player in the national football team Preeti Rai appeared in a tv interview to highlight the difference between training regimen in neighbouring countries.&nbsp; “I learned from friends in Bhutan that they has months of intensive training, and even got homework at football camp. We did not even know you could get homework in football,” Rai mused.&nbsp; A silver lining, especially for Nepali women footballers, is that this has led them to play for international clubs, where they are gaining income and experience they would not get at home.&nbsp; Currently, 10 players from the national women’s football team roster play for international clubs. Striker Sabitra (‘Samba’) Bhandari joined the French Division 1 club En Avant Guingamp, playing her first match for the team in February.&nbsp; Team captain Anjila Tumbapo Subba signed up with the Greek A Division Women's football club Nees Atromitou in September. Seven more national team players play for Indian clubs, and for a club in Abu Dhabi. Rai’s impassioned post on social media after the team’s loss, in which she introspected her team’s performance, her future in the sport, as well as the future of young Nepali girls who hope to become footballers, garnered much attention on social media, and opened discussions about the state of women’s sports in the country.&nbsp; What rankles women athletes the most is discrimination with their male counterparts over the issue of pay. Male football players used to earn more than twice the amount than their female compatriots before ANFA decided to introduce equal pay in 2021. At present, contracted players from both the men’s and women’s team receive a monthly salary of Rs30,000 per month.&nbsp; However, the same does not hold in other sports. When the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced its central contracts for players in 2020, the male players earned more than thrice the amount that female cricketers. A new annual contract was announced earlier in 2024, for 30 male and 19 female cricketers, with players divided into four ‘grades’ from A to D, with an additional category for emerging players.&nbsp; But although salaries for players were increased, female cricketers still earn half of what their male counterparts make.&nbsp; The remuneration of volleyball players is even less. Nepal’s volleyball players receive a measly Rs5,000 monthly salary, that too not from the government but from former players based overseas who have taken the initiative to contribute.&nbsp; Money for sports tends to come only in the form of rewards and cash prizes after (and only if) players win important matches. They are also garlanded and welcomed with a parade around Kathmandu in open pickups, but not if they lose.&nbsp; Palesha Goverdhan was awarded Rs6.5 million by the government, and got more cash prizes from the private sector groups for her bronze in the Paris &nbsp;Paralympics. The Nepali women’s volleyball players who won silver at the CAVA tournament received Rs300,000 as a prize.&nbsp; These rewards are well-deserved, but female athletes say investment in women’s sports needs to come in regularly, and before they win matches.&nbsp; Then there is the tremendous pressure from the Nepali public to perform better, and unending criticism when athletes are unable to meet expectations in crucial matches. &nbsp; “We’ve heard claims that the Nepali women’s team are going to play the 2027 World Cup,” Anjila Tumbapo Subba, captain of the Nepali women’s national football team, remarked sardonically at the Kantipur panel. “We might as well say that our team is going to play on the moon next.” And as with most career paths, there are societal constraints, but perhaps more so in sports, which many Nepali national female athletes have discussed being discouraged from because “it is something boys do”. “Just as women athletes begin to peak in their sport, there is pressure to settle down and get married, and discontinue their career,” said Saraswati Chaudhary. “I have seen many great female athletes migrate overseas because of this.”&nbsp;

Shristi Karki

Nepal’s women excel in sports in 2024

Ranked 8th in the world in the 100km race, Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha is taking long strides in the international trail running circuit. In March, the 24-year old from Jumla was at the <a href="https://itra.run/Races/RaceResults/Wenling.Golden.Coast.Trail.70KM/2024/91759">Wenling 70km in China</a>, a trail race on paper but with a route that was about 70% road. On her first time, she set a record for the course, beating the number two ranked female trail runner in the world. It was a 70km road race all on a road surface, something Budha is less used to, since almost all of her training is on trails. Budha hit a roadblock at 30km, when her leg started cramping up, but she fought through it. Soon after winning Wenling, she traveled with her manager to Spain to race a 75k at the Transvulcania La Palma Island 2024. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/change-on-a-himalayan-scale">Change on a Himalayan scale</a>, Kunda Dixit&nbsp; Budha was apprehensive about her chances, because she was coming back from an injury and the field was strong. In a pre-race interview, she thought she could not even finish in the top ten. She ended up third. Now, she is eying the world trail running championship in France in September. &nbsp;Sunmaya started running while in Grade 7 in Jumla, and did well at school tournaments. She came to Kathmandu to take part in 3 and 5Ks. “My very first race was 1,600m, and I came in second only because I had no clue that the finish line was a little further than where we had started from,” she recalls, laughing. The next year, she won the race. “There was no tv, no internet in my village. The only way to get any kind of news or information was the radio,” remembers Budha of her childhood. Her parents (pictured below) were not educated and initially did not understand this passion for running, insisting instead on an arranged marriage for her.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240808100852_f9969d45346d1c6ef2dbc074fc2a3ae5c8c7f0279e30197146e645ef9d1b9cc2.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240808100852_f9969d45346d1c6ef2dbc074fc2a3ae5c8c7f0279e30197146e645ef9d1b9cc2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1492" height="1118" loading="lazy" alt="Sunmaya Budha family NT"> <figcaption>Sunmaya back home in Jumla in t-shirt with her family.</figcaption> </figure>  “They weren’t too persistent about marriage, but were a little concerned with how thin I was getting from all the training,” she says, “they let me know that they could not support me financially.” She moved to Khalanga and started training at the Karnali Sports Club under <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3102">Hari Bahadur Rokaya</a> who was Nepal’s Olympic marathoner in 1988 and 1992, and the fastest in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/been-there-not-done-that">Everest Marathaon</a>. Throughout it all, her parents thought she was in school. Budha benefited from Rokaya’s mentorship as she could train for free and he took her to races. “My parents only figured out I was running when they heard that I came third in a national-level race in Dharan,” recalls Budha. She won a cash prize of Rs15,000. Budha kept improving and was invited to her first trail race, a 12km course organised by British trail runner Richard Bull, who co-founded trailrunningnepal.org. In July 2021, Sunmaya was signed to Asian Pacific Athlete’s The North Face Adventure Team and she had professional management, coaching, financial support, and equipment.&nbsp; Budha’s first win came in December 2021, when she won the Doi Inthanon UTMB &nbsp;in Thailand, finishing ahead of other renowned Nepali female trail runner <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners">Mira Rai</a>. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners">Celebrating the Himalayan Outdoors</a> Sunmaya has since left the team and signed with Kailas, a Chinese company that produces climbing and trail running gear. “Sponsorship is vital because it is enough for me to live, eat and train. And I can get all the equipment, shoes, clothes that I need from them, as long as I only wear their clothes during races” says Budha. In Hong Kong, Budha heard about Andy DuBois, an Australian trail running coach that she wanted to work with. She messaged him on Facebook, and after DuBois grilled her meticulously about her previous training, nutrition, and coaching, took her on. DuBois is still Budha’s coach, and meets with her once a week online to check in and give weekly training plans for times and distances to run.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/trail-running-trail-blazer"> Trail-running trail blazer</a>, Sanghamitra Subba “Three days a week I do speed work and two days I run uphills. On Wednesdays I do a long run, and one day a week I’m at the track doing many sets of 200s, 400s, 800s,” details Budha. “Full body strength training is very important for athletes too, I hit the weights about four times a week.” Sunmaya currently lives a nomadic running lifestyle, living and training wherever the next race is, although she is often in Kathmandu or Hong Kong. She stresses the importance of being flexible and mobile, as trail running can lead to a stiff, locked up, injured athlete very easily because of the amount of stress on the body, especially on a downhill. “Every trail runner is a serial ankle sprainer,” says Budha, who loves yoga and follows the Olympics avidly. She keeps her diet organic, avoiding ‘bazar’ foods. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/struggles-successes-of-south-asian-women-athletes">Struggles, successes of South Asian women athletes</a> The International Trail Running Association (ITRA) recently released a statement with a commitment to making trail running a part of the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics in 2032. There is a chance that Budha will get to participate in<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-to-win-nepal-s-first-olympic-medal"> future Olympics</a>.&nbsp; What Budha likes most about trail running is that it puts her in nature, where the focus is always on how the route will change next, allowing her to remain completely in the present. She likes Europe the best. “The landscape there seems like it was built for trail running,” she says.&nbsp; Budha was also impressed by the development of the sport when she raced in China. She contrasts that with Nepal where she says the few races we have are not promoted well.&nbsp; “Nepalis just don’t want to pay to run in a race,” she adds. Budha is not very optimistic, nor does she expect support from her government. She says, “Of course it would be nice to have them care, but at the end of the day what can I tell them? You have to take control of your own life.”&nbsp;

Run, Sunmaya, run

<figure><img width="1406" height="1106" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c099c7e80680e0b784ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: WE United</figcaption></figure>Lhakpa Bhuti Lama has been into sports since she was four years old. She was part of India’s Tibetan Women Soccer Team, received her formal training in Dehradun and is qualified to participate in the Vancouver International Soccer Festival in Canada. When the <a href="https://theweunitedproject.com/">WE United Project</a> called for applications to its coach program in 2021, she immediately applied. She had been playing in WE United’s futsal tournaments for some years and now wanted to be a coach to help change people’s perception of girls and women in sports. “I want to empower girls from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-female-guides-prepare-for-trekking-season/?fbclid=IwAR0_RzDh5-tZZAQ0Hkavmvavd7IfQ3_XqW9q_0WRgean8NjB-zLt46zQaxI">Himalayan region through sports</a>,” says Lhakpa. “And help them be good examples for future generations.”Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/women-of-substance/?fbclid=IwAR2a0WxwoJnyB0e0XxuNjrs6e5xUWlI8D0cfnYshL2fO9_v7GaeYAHDCPlA">Women of substance</a>, Nepali TimesLhakpa, who faced discrimination in the field from an early age, recalls that the school grounds were occupied mostly by senior male teams. And when she and her friends used the basketball court, the boys would run away instead of joining them. Even when she took her coaching initiative to a Tibetan school, eyebrows were raised. Teachers insisted that studies were of utmost priority, and sports was a distraction. They could not understand why she wanted to coach girls anyway, despite the interest from female students. “Even my own elder brother would discourage me from playing, saying it would affect my studies,” says Lhakpa. “But my academics only improved as I continued to participate in sports.” <figure><img width="6000" height="4005" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c0d9c7e80680e0b784bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Punam Regmi from Dhangadi has a similar story. A go-getter from birth, she held eclectic interests from academics to dancing. A student of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-scientist-returns-to-pinpoint-hazards-of-dirty-air/">environmental science</a>, she had started her own menstrual awareness campaign when she came upon the WE Coach program on Facebook, she jumped at the opportunity. “I am new to football, I hadn’t really got the opportunity to learn about it until I joined the program,” she says, “Now I want the girls in my village to play, too. That is why I decided to become a coach.”After the training, she reached out to schools to see if they would let her coach their female students but there was some resistance. They eventually gave in after learning that Regmi would coach for free.“Most schools didn’t want to involve their <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/female-footballers-take-on-nepals-win/">female students in sports</a>. They thought the girls would be unwilling to participate, but everyone came,” says Regmi, who wants to join the Nepal Army and maybe even become the Army Chief one day.Only half the students were coached at first, but the initially skeptical teachers were soon in awe when they saw the girls play.  <figure><img width="6016" height="4016" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c119c7e80680e0b784cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There are fewer than five <a href="https://the-anfa.com/">ANFA</a> certified <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5492#.Yh4kXO5Bz0s">female coaches</a> in Nepal. Even the Nepal women football team is led by a male coach. This is why the WE Coach Nepal program was launched in 2018. The program completed its third edition in 2021, training twelve young women from Dhangadi, Surkhet and Kathmandu to be football coaches.WE United Project was started in 2014 by American expats Amanda Cats-Baril and Anne McGuinness to address the lack of playing grounds and women participation in sports in Kathmandu. This was back when there was only one futsal at the Godavari Alumni Association in Thamel, but that too was exclusively used by men. “Initially the project looked to foster a sports culture amongst women,” says the project's Arpana Pradhan. “Now the focus is also on building leadership and skills development. We want to change the way women view themselves and other women.”Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-female-guides-prepare-for-trekking-season/?fbclid=IwAR0_RzDh5-tZZAQ0Hkavmvavd7IfQ3_XqW9q_0WRgean8NjB-zLt46zQaxI">Nepal’s female guides prepare for trekking season</a>, Sonam Choekyi Lama The project began as a weekly friendly <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Hall,380">futsal</a> session every Saturday, welcoming players from all levels of skill and backgrounds. Only a few women participated at first. On top of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/struggles-successes-of-south-asian-women-athletes/">stigma attached to women in sports</a>, even an hour of futsal meant restructuring one’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/female-guides-juggle-work-and-home/">family and home priorities</a>. There were babies to take care of, in-laws to look after, children to bathe and clothe, and guests to serve. But gradually, the number picked up. In 2017, WE United organised the first annual futsal league for women, the Mahila Premier League. However, while everyone involved (referees and players, organisers) the coach was still male.  <figure><img width="1406" height="1106" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c169c7e80680e0b784djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Enter the WE Coach program. The objective was not just to train coaches, but also fostering an environment where transformative change-makers can thrive. The girls are taught about gender equality and equity, women empowerment, and creating safe spaces. Lhakpa recounts the annual Lhosar football tournament in her village where, originally, only male football teams were allowed to play. When Lhakpa took the issue up with the organisers, they finally allowed her and the girls to form two teams after much demurral. “It started with two teams,” she adds. “But every year the number only grows, and more girls participate.”Lhakpa feels proud to see the girls passionate about playing sports. “Their attitude towards the game has changed,” she says. “And they have learnt to prioritise enjoying and learning over the outcome.”Punam says perceptions are changing and her father has learnt to cook and no longer asks her to stay back to take care of the chores when she goes out to play. Program director at WE United, Silika Shakya, adds: “If my daughter grows up seeing me play, she will learn that she can too. A woman playing sports should not be something out of the ordinary, it should happen in every household.”Arpana Pradhan says, “We are not competing with men, but with ourselves. If they have the right to play, why not us? We are also playing to have fun. Women playing and coaching creates positive role models across many careers. All <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/women-leaders-set-example-for-rest-of-nepal/">women can be leaders</a>, sports is just a tool.”Read  also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/celebrating-the-himalayan-outdoors/?fbclid=IwAR3Hp2WAouUhMqj9lCo2XfHWKBs-tCZsHpy_-d3xYbq-fTqiA-bipIfEpOU">Celebrating  the  Himalayan Outdoors</a>, Sikuma Rai

Aria Shree Parasai

Girls just want to have fun

<img width="1614" height="874" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08a59c7e80680e0a602cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>With the Tokyo Olympics underway and Indian women winning medals, South Asia’s female athletes have been talking about the struggles they face at home and in society to take up sports as a profession.From Afghanistan to Nepal and Sri Lanka, women athletes in a webinar this week shared experiences of harassment, discouragement and lack of support, as well as inspiring stories of solidarity and success.“War has taken away everything from us,” said Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team. “Someone had to take a step. I was harassed, criticised and attacked but didn’t give up. My fight was not just for myself. It was for my sisters and for all other women in my country.”The interaction of South Asian athletes ‘Women in Sports: Challenges and Wins’ was organised by the <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">South Asia Peace Action Network (Sapan)</a> and South Asia Women in Media (SAWM) on 25 July and came up with ideas for collaboration, including a book project and an association of South Asian women athletes. “South Asia is like our home,” Popal said. “Our pain is the same. What is missing is unity.” <figure><img width="652" height="516" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08a89c7e80680e0a602djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team.</figcaption></figure>Payoshni Mitra, a prominent activist advocating athletes’ rights and director of the Geneva-based Centre for Sport and Human Rights athletes, anchored the discussion and said that in a region where even access to education can be a challenge for girls, training for sports is even harder.Squash champion Noorena Shams, the first-ever international female athlete from Pakistan’s north-western region grew up in a conflict zone. “I can still hear the bombs,” she said, “I expected to die at any moment, and never thought I would play squash, especially at this level. I used to disguise myself as a boy to play cricket in Peshawar.”Shams adds that it is not about the trophy, or who wins medals. “We have to do it together, be there for each other,” she said.Bangladeshi basketball player Ashreen Mridha said that the responsibility for getting girls into sports was not with just the federations and sports bodies but also with friends, families, uncles, aunts and brothers, who all need to step up. “Gender inequality is not just a women’s problem to solve,” she said.The captain of Bangladesh’s cricket team, Ruhmana Ahmed, said female athletes faced greater challenges in fund-raising. Sana Mir, former captain of the Pakistan women’s cricket team, agreed:“Women must prove themselves in order to get funds, while men are financially supported even if they don’t win.” Even when women athletes outperform men in terms of medals, as in India, they still don’t get the same share of the limelight or funding. Participants also spoke about the importance of breaking gender stereotypes. Olympian swimmer Nisha Millet from India, her little twin daughters by her side during the webinar, urged women to get back into the game even after leaving competitive sport to contribute to raising the next generation of sportswomen through coaching, mentoring and promoting.Other athletes who spoke at the event included Ayesha Mansukhani, athlete and sports investor, from India, Caryll Tozer, activist and former netball player from Sri Lanka, Bangladeshi cricketer Champa Chakma, Mabia Akhter Shimanto, an award-winning weight-lifting champion from Bangladesh, Indian coach and cricketer Roopa Nagraj, and Preety Baral a national tennis player from Nepal.Besides the issues of leadership, funding, discrimination and fighting stereotypes common to women athletes around the region, there were concerns about the objectification of women and sexual harassment, which deserve more attention.Differently-abled athletes face an even more difficult struggle. “No one wanted to sponsor a blind runner,” said partially blind athlete Gulshan Naaz from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Participants at the webinar proposed working on a book project as well as setting up a South Asian women athletes’ association to promote female athletes in the region.<a href="http://www.southasiapeace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SouthAsiaPeace</a>

Struggles, successes of South Asian women athletes

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96e09c7e80680e05dc91jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>Eighty women enrolled in the Nepal Mountain Academy’s training for trekking guides this year, more than double the number last year. No doubt some had heard that the demand for female guides is so high that they can earn more than men.Till now, female guides have been a rare sight in trekking and mountaineering, even though Nepal’s first female-run trekking company, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9452#.XX90kvAza70">Three Sisters</a>, was founded 20 years ago in Pokhara. Of the total 17,164 licensed guides in the country only 886 are female, but their numbers are growing faster than male guides.Lhakpa Bhuti Sherpa, President of the Nepal Mountain Academy (NMA), remembers when male colleagues asked what was the point in training women as trekking guides when they couldn’t obtain a license. “Why not?” she recalls replying.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96e39c7e80680e05dc92jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Indeed, as women get more educated and travel more, they see opportunities in being guides. Many trekking groups are all-female or have many women among their members and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16195#.XX92XvAza70">they prefer women guides</a>, who seem to understand their needs better.Today, guide training draws women from all walks of life. “We have women here who have climbed Everest, conservationists, financial managers, graduate students and even homemakers. I feel very proud to see them getting the confidence to join,” says Sherpa, who adds that having a course dedicated for women makes participants more empowered and motivated.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96e69c7e80680e05dc93jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Besides 35 days of intense training, prospective guides must complete field work and classes. Some of the practical training includes <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2698#.XX92LPAza70">rock climbing techniques</a>, emergency response, environmental awareness, and learning about the cultures and habits of the various countries their trekking clients come from.“I cannot wait to lead my first trek,” says Sunita Dahal, 28, who is married and has just finished her guide training.Shanti Rai was awarded a fellowship in 2018 for Solo Women Travellers, and the experience convinced her about what she should do with her life. “After my 90 days travelling alone through Nepal, I felt what I had seen and experienced was so authentic that I wanted to share these stories and journeys with the rest of the world, and to inspire other travellers like me,” says Rai. She adds that being a licensed trekking guide is a perfect way to combine her love for Nepal’s great outdoors with earning a living.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96e99c7e80680e05dc94jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Deurali Chamling, 35, climbed Mt Everest in 2018, but says society is always putting limits on what women can and cannot do. She thinks being a trekking guide gives her both the freedom to travel and economic independence. She says: “I can travel to places, earn and meet a whole range of interesting people from all over the world -- there are so many advantages.”The government has now allocated Rs1 million yearly to promote female guide training, in part to prepare women guides for Visit Nepal 2020.“Today female guides are in high demand. This is the only sector where females can earn more than males because they are so few and the demand is high,” says Lakpa Bhuti Sherpa of NMA, who started our as a porter, kitchen worker and then a guide. She says the number of trekking agencies run by women is growing, and so are the number of female guides they hire.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96ec9c7e80680e05dc95jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Phunjo Jangmo Lama, a resident of Tsum Valley, is the first female helicopter long line rescuer and an Everest summiteer and is convinced she is now more <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18972#.XX92FPAza70">confident and independent</a>, adding that women guides can understand the needs of clients better than male ones.She says: “Mountains and trekking know no gender – it is the strength of an individual that matters. If female are given any opportunity they can perform any kind of strength work.”

Nepal’s female guides prepare for trekking season

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;

The Everest Industry

That winter day in January 1664 marked an exceptional event in the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu. It was 15 Paush 784 of the Nepal Sambat and for the first time, a historical event was being immortalised on canvas for generations to come.&nbsp; The occasion was the grand Tuladaan ceremony of the King’s youngest son Chakrabartendra Malla from his wife Anantapriya, an Indian princess from Cooch Behar in present-day Assam.&nbsp; During the ritual, the prince was weighed against gold, silver, pearls, and other precious stones, which were then offered to Goddess Taleju Bhavani, the guardian deity of the Malla dynasty.&nbsp; The 170 x120cm painting captures the time of King Pratap Malla in all its splendour and is more than a personal tribute to his son: it is a significant visual historical document. It was evidently completed five years later in 1669, and could be considered a photographic record, with retrospective recreation of the event by the unknown artist. A Tuladaan ceremony is performed to purify one’s karma, quell impending bad luck, or as an act of charity and devotion. Chakrabartendra Malla was not well, and the ritual was performed in hopes of restoring his health. King Pratap Malla had arranged for each of his sons to take turns ruling Kathmandu so they got administrative experience. But Chakrabartendra died just two days after assuming power in 1670 (790 NS). This painting is considered the earliest known example in which the composition is dominated by an architectural landscape: the Taleju Temple. Given the stylistic features such as side-profile facial depictions and the rendering of human forms, it is believed that the Nepali artist was trained by a Rajput master.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051" data-rendition-name="original" width="3248" height="4395" loading="lazy" alt="Tuladaan NT"> </figure>  During that era, there were regular exchanges of artists between Northern India and Kathmandu Valley. The painting is also a melding of Nepali, Tibetan, Mughal, and Rajput art styles of the time. Pratap Malla could have been inspired by a painting of Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s Tuladaan ceremony for his son Khurram in 1607. The Mallas and Mughals shared cordial relations, which is reflected in the cultural influences seen in the art and attire of the period.&nbsp; The clothing of the Malla ruling class, in particular, features colourful tunics, turbans, and jewelry that display strong Rajput and Mughal stylistic elements. The musicians in the upper tier are also dressed in Indian-style clothing, while the ensemble on the lower steps wear local attire, notably without turbans. Their hairstyles also differ, with the lower group wearing their hair tied in a bun at the front. This national treasure is currently in storage at the Collège de France in Paris, and has never been publicly displayed. Nepal’s art scholars like Gautam Vajracharya, Pratap Aditya Pal and Anne Vergati have written about this iconic paubha in the past, but the only detailed study is from the perspective of music history by researcher Richard Widdess who had access to high resolution copies of the original.&nbsp; Widdess from the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London describes the paubha as the most significant and richly detailed documentation of music in Nepali art. He identifies distinct musical ensembles on the terraces of the temple, and remarkably most of them are actively used today. One of them reflects the Mughal naqqārakhāna model — a loud outdoor ensemble typically composed of kettledrums, trumpets, and cymbals, traditionally performed from the gateway of the emperor’s palace to announce his entrances and exits. The depiction of such an ensemble in the tulādāna painting is likely the earliest known representation of a complete naqqārakhāna in Nepal — considered the forerunner of the panche baja, the traditional Nepali ensemble. On the stepped pyramid base of the temple are two groups of musicians playing local instruments: dhimey, bhushya, and dha. They are unmistakably Newar musicians, wearing short skirts and short-sleeved tops, with bare heads and legs—clearly distinguished as local performers.&nbsp; Higher still on the temple pyramid are musicians of apparently higher status, positioned close to the king, and his courtiers, possibly professional court musicians from India, well-versed in rāga and tāla. A dāphā group is also clearly depicted, identifiable by their characteristic instruments.&nbsp; Dāphā bhajan is likely the oldest surviving tradition of Newar devotional singing, and this paubha is the oldest visual record of it. Pratap Malla himself is believed to have composed songs that continue to be performed by dāphā groups throughout Kathmandu till today.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3" data-rendition-name="original" width="596" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Priceless paubha in Paris NT"> </figure>  The artist’s thorough attention to musical detail may be attributed to King Pratap Malla’s own deep interest in music. His inscriptions on this painting and elsewhere proclaim his mastery of all branches of knowledge, including music. He is also known as the author of dance dramas and poems, penning his name as Kavindra (king of poets). Some noteworthy elements of new art techniques stand out: for example, the roof of the temple is filled with realistically rendered white doves, pigeons, and crows. This is a rare feature in paubha, where animals and birds are stylised, mythological forms. This remarkably talented unknown artist has managed to also render an orthographic projection: the front and side view of Nepal’s first architectural paubha. The Taleju Temple, with its staggering multi-tiered structure and numerous steps and platforms, is masterfully translated into layers within the painting. This represents a significant artistic achievement of the time, especially considering that dimensional perspectives had not started in deity-based paubha.&nbsp; The artist has also made a meticulous effort to capture architectural details such as the toran (ornamental arch) and temple struts with impressive precision. There are flickering lamps along the steps and some people carrying what appear to be oil pots.&nbsp; It is a full moon night and the dark sky is adorned with all the gods and goddesses, who are depicted as blessing the ceremony while seated on stylised thangka clouds. There is a lot happening in this painting, with people engaged in various activities. The artist has also rendered a forest backdrop behind the temple, complete with deer, trees, and flowers. Could there have once been a royal garden behind the Taleju Temple?&nbsp; More details and clarity can only be achieved if we are able to view the original or a high-resolution scanned version of the artwork. Many countries proudly display art depicting historical events in their national museums with great reverence. France, for example, has The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine by Jacques-Louis David (1808–1822), along with numerous paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were commissioned by Napoleon himself for future generations to remember.&nbsp; For Nepal, the equivalent is the Tuladaan paubha which is a visual record capturing a historic moment involving one of Kathmandu’s greatest kings, on the very day the event took place. Sadly, we await the day when this masterpiece is displayed, shared in high resolution for detailed study, or more rightfully — repatriated to its homeland, where it truly belongs. &nbsp; Shaguni Singh Sakya is the Director of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel. <h2>Gods homeward bound</h2> The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are convening the first international conference on the Recovery of Cultural Heritage from 16-18 June in Patan. The conference will address urgent issues of theft, illicit trafficking, the campaign to repatriate looted cultural artifacts, and explore how the return of sacred antiquities contributes to justice, healing, and reconciliation for communities and nations affected by cultural loss. American art crime professor Erin L Thompson and Saubhagya Pradhananga of the Department of Archaeology will deliver the keynote. Meanwhile, author and Nepali Times publisher Kunda Dixit will lead a conversation on Illicit Trafficking: Public Opinion and Role of Media with Erin Thompson, Amr Al Azm, associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, as well as Bradley J Gordon, a lawyer based in Phnom Penh. There will be sessions looking at repatriation perspectives from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China and Poland, international frameworks for repatriation, emerging digital technologies in the repatriation of cultural heritage, cultural property agreements, museums as well as trends in the art market, and heritage diplomacy and the role of media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Heritage recovery NT"> </figure>  <h2> </h2> Some of the other highlights include James K. Reap, a professor in the Master of Historic Preservation Program at the University of Georgia who has a session on the US response to illicit trafficking. Art historian Lea Saint-Raymond is taking on “Gods at Auction: The Market for Himalayan Artefacts”, while lecturer of criminology at the University of Glasgow Emiline Smith is delving into transformative approaches to heritage ownership and repatriation. Helena Arose of Antiquities Coalition and Melina Antoniadis of NOSTOS Strategies that specialise on the return home of cultural heritage as well as Hao Liu of International Cultural Heritage Law at the School of Law at Shandong University are some of the others attending. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was set up in 2020 to develop a coordinated movement to reclaim Nepal’s stolen gods and goddesses, with an aim to ensure that recovered items are returned to their original shrines, niches or sanctums. Ahead of the conference opening organisers have arranged for a film screening of Loot &amp; Return: 4 Documentaries at YalaMaya Kendra in Patan Dhoka between 14-15 June. Following the conference is a multimedia exhibition titled Absent Gods: Nepal’s Lost Heritage from 31 July to 4 August at Patan Museum.

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