I was somewhat popular not only in study but also in volleyball. I know, I had started playing it formally from 2001, after I joined Pulchowk campus and stayed in News Boys Hostel. Most people from outside of Kathmandu valley play volleyball and football. Basketball is quite popular in Kathmandu and cricket in Terai region. But, people in village area of hilly region don’t know what is “Cricket”. Also, Basketball is less popular. Therefore, if I were a decision maker, I would definitely select volleyball or football as a national game for Nepal. The rationale behind the decision is that at least majority of people from all area know what is volleyball and football.
Although, volleyball is popular in village, I hardly got chance to play in court during my schooling since I was small and thin in front of other students specially Rai ,Sherpa, Tamang studdnts etc. who looked physically strong. We ‘thinners’ had nothing more than a ball made from “MOJA” and net made from “BABIO”.
Volleyball is basically a team-based game. Each team consist 6 players. As far as I know volleyball was originated from US. Today, it is played all over the world. Moreover, it uses many important keywords including Serve, Pass, Set, Attack, Block and Dig.
Volleyball in Pulchowk: A Turning Point
I shifted to Pulchowk hostel shortly after I got permission. A big playing ground in front of hostel was really a good place to play football, volleyball, and cricket. I started playing volleyball in a big court. The more I played, the more I got popular among other peers. My height played a significant role for it. Within a month, I was able to establish myself as an attacker. During study period, I have achieved more than 6 medals including runner-up, winner, and best player in many intra/inter college events. Unfortunately, I don’t get any formal training about it. How I played is by seeing how other play, that’s all.
Miniolympic-2006 August
Formation of team
I sent an email to AITNP, the largest community of Nepalese in Thailand, to send names of interested players. However, I didn’t receive any reply. Discussion with Binod Chaudhari, a good player, helped me to send names of Nepalese team in last hour. We just sent names of players without asking their permission. Later, I circulated the email about the team members. However, I got a couple of interesting replies this time. Some of them were:
- “Please Nobal remove my name from the team, please..”- Abha Baidhya
- “I can play any games except Volleyball”………………........- Sailesh Bharati.
Of course, these were not surprising since each of them had logic but were interesting replies. Thank god, Bal dai got another player Mr. Bhujel, brother of Dr. Ram Bhujel. I found him really a good player from Nepalese team. Now we were: Nobal, Bal, Binod, Bhujel, Dev. Still we had lack of one player. Fortunately, we got a couple of interests from Pratik, Bharat, Sunaj, Nependra, Robot dai, Luna didi and Bishnu dai. In this way, we formed Nepalese team. The risk was …if any player became absent…. .a challenging part...
Total Teams: 7
Total 7 teams were taking part: Group A (Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia), Group B (Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam, and International). First round was league. From each team two teams would be selected for quarter final.
First Match: Monday, October 16, 2006 (6.00-7.00)
Before going for the first match, we did practice around 1 hour on second court near to basketball court. The ball (from Nepali Samaj) was so hard that our players were massaging inside court …
We reached on the playing court on time. Fortunately, our opponent which was Indonesia was absent. We waited for 30 min more. Only two players from opponent were present. As per our demand, referee formally declared us winner! Gr8 we got 3 point.
Second Match: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 (5.00-6.00)
Since we got point from ‘bye’ rule, I was very conscious about the timing of our team on the court. But as I mentioned earlier, it was challenging since didn’t have a good substitute. Like in previous day, Bal dai and me collected all players in the practice court before 1 hour of the real match. Good, we could practice in court and allocate the position of players. Nobal, Bal dai, X from front line and Binod, Dev and Bhujel from last line. Here X was any one from Pratik, Bharat, Nipendra, Sunaj, Bishnu, Luna, Robot. We chosed X=Bharat for the first match.
Our opponent was Vietnam. We entered inside the court. Vietnamese were all short!!! Thank god, I got a good chance for strike. Although Vietnamese’s defend were nice, lack of striker was the main reason for being defeated against Nepal. Yes, in spite of bad defend, Nepali team WON against Vietnamese team by 2-0. WOW. hip hip hurray!! That match not only increased our probability for selecting in semi-final round but also increased our confidence. Other opponent teams got surprised with Nepalese team and its strikers' performance.
Third Match: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 (7.00-8.00):
On 17th October, I was main referee for match Indonesia (who gave us bye) and International (a mixed team). It helped a lot to determining the strength of both teams. This was necessary because we had to play with International team on 18th. I found that International team can give a challenge against us because it won Indonesian team with very good performance.
The success of Nepali volleyball team had spread because I had circulated the news in AITNP and requested to hoot for Nepali team for the match on 18th. As a result, we got a no of hooters outside the court. Fortunately, we had improved our defense to some extent from previous experiences. Our team played very well, competitive game and could able to defeat by 2-0. NEPAL! NEPAL!! we cried a lot. WE ENTERED TO SEMI-FINAL as a group leader!!
Continuous success of Nepalese team in volleyball got a number of attentions. For example, Prakash Gupta, General Secretary of AITNS wrote email. Below is exactly what he had written:
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Dear Friends,
I would like to inform all of our Nepali friends that today is our volleyball match with Laos. So, I would like to request all of our friends to come at the volleyball court and cheers for our Nepali team.
Your presence is highly appreciable.
Venue: VolleyBall Court, Near C-Dorm
Date: 19th October, 2006
Time: 6PM
Regards,
Prakash Gupta
Secretary, AITNS
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This time we were happy because, we got juice and water from Nepali Samaj. The game was base of 5. We entered into court to play against Laos. In first set, we reversed our position: Bhujel, Binod, Dev in front line whereas Nobal, Bal and Nipendra in last line. RESULT: we LOST for the first time, sad :(
Photo: My target is clear: how to achieve the largest medal in previous picture. Same ball i.e. Mikasa again. (Udesha ke linu uhi chunu chandra aka)
Photo: Supporters in semi final (19th October, 2006). Anusha, Sailesh, Bharat, Abha, Sangita, Shuvalaxi, Shovana, Ami (from left-down-up)
Photo: Same for another set also ok? Taking juice for energy (19th October, 2006)
Photo: Tools for hooting- Empty bottles and Juice for players (19th October, 2006). Subaj and Bishnu.
Photo: Me smiling? Of course, we won semi final too.! Gr8
We had to play with Thai team since the defeated against Vietnamese. For the third round, Laos and Vietnam were going to fight. A lot of people were on the court. This was because Student Union of AIT had circulated emails to all AITNs. Prof. Sudip Rakshit, (AIT Vice President--Research) and Imran Khan (President Student Union) were present. For commentary Tufil (Coordinator, SU Sports) was there with mike on his hand. I never had thought such environment before. Almost all Nepalese students in AIT were present.
At first, third match was played. Vietnam played very well and became second runner-up. Then, the most awaiting game for final (NEPAL vs THAILAND) started. Unfortunately, we lost first set. Thai team had a good combination. They looked like professional. Although we gave challenge in second and third set, we couldn’t get success. Our team couldn’t able to give a single victory against Thailand. Being a captain, I am very sorry for this. A lot of hooting from Nepalese supporters can be seen on the following video:
Photo: Nepali Volleyball Team (First-Rummer up ) with supporters.
Teams: Vietnam, Nepal and Thailand:
Vietnamese team is a good team only in defense. I didn't find a good striker in the team. You can see almost all players are short in the following figure. They became second runner-up in mini-olympic 2006.
Nepalese team proved a middle-class team. This was their first participation in volleyball. They didn't loss any match except in final.
Thai team never lost a single game. They are balanced team in gender :). All are good players. Perhaps they have already took trainings. More important, the match was in AIT, where the proportion of thai students is almost 40/50 %. Although general height of thai is around 5 ft., these players are above that figure.
Team: Thailand, Winner, a balanced team (male, female, ).
Conclusion:
This was my first international game. I got a chance to handle as captain for Nepalese team. As far as I know, this was the fist time Nepali Team played volleyball in Mini-OLYMPICS in AIT. I would like to give thank to all of the supporters for their cheering and want to say sorry for being defeated from Thailand team. Without any preparation, we could became first-runner up. This was our great achievement. Thanks to all team members for faire play and good support.
Ramailo Kura:
Tufil had told me to send 10 names of volleyball players. Accordingly, I had given 10 names. Suddenly I got to know that the number of players is reduced to 8 when we were on queue to receive medal. Fortunately, all 7 players were in front of queue except one. What happened is that the non-player (7th one in the queue) took gift (medal + T-shirt) (because he didn't get the modified information). I felt bored by the decision of reducing player number to 8. Person who played didn’t get anything whereas person that didn’t play got ….. Finally, I decided to give T-shirt to non-player and medal to actual player….I am really sorry la...it was not my mistake……
Lesson Learned:
“Don’t feel weak before you taste the battle”
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