Nepal’s A-list basketball players dribble troubles galore, on and off the court

Owing to institutional indifference of grievous nature, Nepali basketball players are forced to make a hard choice: whether to stay in the game or look for fortune elsewhere.

While other sports like football, cricket, and volleyball routinely witness tournaments, basketball has been passive for the last couple of years. (Photo: 13th SAG Games)

Prasun Sangroula

  • Read Time 4 min.

Kathmandu: Last week, Kiran Chemjong, skipper of the Nepali national football team, revealed his salary in a TV interview. The interviewer compared the goalie’s, and his teammates’, salary—Rs 18 thousand per month—with that of a senior ANFA official, who was being interviewed alongside Chemjong and who admitted that he receives over Rs 100,000 per month. The apparent irony, which the interviewer took great pains to hammer on, was quickly picked up by Nepalis on social media. Tweets were sent, statuses uploaded, and posts were created, all expressing outrage against the state for making the players toil hard on such meager financial returns.

But the irony is hardly limited to football. In basketball, for instance, the situation is all the worse: Basketball players representing Nepal in international games, both male and female, have not received a single penny as salary for nearly two decades, Sadina Shrestha, who captains the Nepali basketball team, recently told Nepal Live Today.

“We have learned that many other associations give salary to the players but we haven’t received a single penny in the name of salary,” said Shrestha, who is one of the senior-most athletes in the team having spent 11 years representing Nepal. “The association gives us some allowance during the international tournaments, and that’s all.”

The last time Shrestha received an allowance was after the 2019 South Asian Games, where a swaggering team Nepal bagged a silver.

“It is our passion for the game that inspires us to continue playing,” Shrestha says. “We do want to take the basketball scene of our country to another level. But at the end of the day, everyone needs to make a living.”

A file photo shows the Nepali women’s basketball team at 13th SAG, where the team bagged a silver. (Photo: 13th SAG Games official site)

The athletes are compelled to tutor kids at schools and do other side gigs when they would rather practice, dribble and dunk. What’s more, the pandemic robbed what little they would earn from side gigs.

The athletes complain of the Nepal Basketball Association’s lethargy. While other sports like football, cricket, and volleyball routinely witness tournaments, basketball has been passive for the last couple of years. Since the 2019 South Asian Games, the Nepali basketball team hasn’t played any tournaments, neither national nor international.

“We should get a chance to play,” says Shrestha. “The concerned authority must create a platform for the players to showcase their skills. They should understand that the players are not supposed to stay idle. How can there be progress in sports if the players are not exposed to matches or tournaments?”

There may be a thousand things that need to be taken care of in Nepali basketball, but none as telling and embarrassing as the lack of standard, full-fledged basketball courts. Shrestha appeals to the government to construct at least one basketball court immediately.

This has directly affected the athletes’ performances, Shrestha says. “Those who root for us want to see us winning medals and trophies,” she adds.

The players have informed the National Basketball Association about the fix that they are caught in but their calls have gone unheeded. “They say, ‘we will do it soon’, before they forget it altogether,” Shrestha reports. 

The players have to manage all the equipment by themselves for the training. The association provides jerseys and mediocre shoes only during international tournaments, according to Shrestha.

Bhimsen Gurung, acting president of Nepal Basketball Association, says that the association has been unable to organize tournaments because of the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, the association itself doesn’t have a sufficient budget to fund the tournaments and players, he adds. 

Since the 2019 South Asian Games, the Nepali basketball team hasn’t played any of the tournaments. (Photo: 13th SAG Games)

“The government has not allocated funds for the association, despite the fact that we have knocked on its door many times,” Gurung told Nepal Live Today, adding that the association would start organizing games after the Tihar festival.

The mess appears to be institutional and Shrestha, who is 30, wants to clear it up.

“Once I retire from basketball, maybe a couple of years from now, I will put all my efforts into improving the managerial aspect of Nepali basketball,” Shrestha says, “so that the upcoming generation does not have to go through what we have.”

There may be a thousand things that need to be taken care of in Nepali basketball, but none as telling and embarrassing as the lack of standard, full-fledged basketball courts. Shrestha appeals to the government to construct at least one basketball court immediately.

“We are tired of practicing and playing on concrete courts,” Shrestha says. “The regular practice on cemented courts has broken our hands and legs several times.”

As a result of this grievous indifference from the state, many of Shrestha’s teammates have left playing the sport altogether, forced to try their luck somewhere else. “All of them were promising players,” Shrestha says. “I miss their companionship and their passion for the game.”