Nepal's story in the pinnacle of sporting events, the Olympics has, through the years, been a rather tumultuous one. Since its first appearance in 1964, Nepal has only participated in the finals of the Olympics event in a limited number of events ranging from athletics, swimming to taekwondo.
However, Nepal's cold streak in the biggest stage, seems to be coming to a swift end through Badminton! Two Nepali Badminton athletes, Prince Dahal and Rashila Maharjan, have received the Asia Olympic Project scholarship run by the World Badminton federation, this opportunity encapsulates a rigorous and long term training program with the end goal of improving their World Rankings in the Junior Division.
The ‘Asia Olympic Project’ is Badminton Asia’s player development initiative developed in accordance with the Badminton Asia Strategic Plan 2020-2024. It consists of training opportunities and competition scholarships for players in Asia. Players are selected from a variety of developing countries, taking into consideration their rankings, game performances and future prospects in the game. These selected players get special training at home and abroad all the while participating in many important competitions, all in preparation to launch them into the major competitions such as the Youth Olympic Games, badminton Asia Youth Under 19 Championships and The World Federation of Badminton World Junior Championship.
One of the selected scholarship recipients is Nepal Men’s Badmintons brightest youth prospect Prince Dahal. Having just turned 17, Prince is ranked number 3 in the world junior rankings and already has a number of accolades to his name, which include winning the Dubai Junior International twice and many more.
He was also featured in the Badminton Asia weekly’s Best Talents of Asia in Badminton as the Best Asian Junior Badminton Player.
Similarly, the next recipient of this scholarship is Rashila Maharjan. Trailblazing the path for women in sports in Nepal, Reshma is one of the decorated badminton athletes in the Nepali Women’s badminton sphere. The Kathmandu native is unanimously considered by her coaches as the most promising Badminton Player in Nepal.
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