Women’s wrestling sees a new dawn

A recent study has shown a positive increase in the numbers of Nepali Women in the wrestling scene. According to the Nepal Women's Wrestling Foundation, 119 women wrestlers have burst onto the scene so far.

Bhagwati Khadka Unika, President of the foundation and Nepal's first international female wrestler, trained many of the 119 up and coming athletes herself. Khadka cites the regularity in their training and participation in competitions as the reason for the recent increase in the number of women wrestlers.

These women in wrestling make decent money, along with competition revenue many have had the opportunity to feature in movies portraying the strong and self-empowered women that they already are.

Khadka, credited as the founder of the entire Women’s wrestling scene in Nepal, herself has so far got the opportunity to work in 63 movies and 11 tele-serials.

Khadka first entered the wrestling scene around 2064 BS through weightlifting. Despite her relative success in this sport, her tall demeanor and extraordinary fitness levels primed her for a career in wrestling. After careful consideration and advice from her close ones and coaches, she entered wrestling in 2069 as the first female wrestler in Nepal. Her claim to fame came as she rose to prominence by defeating ‘The Great Chinne’ of the United States in a wrestling match held at Sandhikharka in Arghakhanchi district of Nepal.

Having won countless competitions in Nepal against foreign wrestlers and having competed in a variety of competitions abroad she now has moved on to organizing her own competitions. These competitions feature wrestlers from Nepal and abroad, including but not exclusive to India, Pakistan and the USA.

However, she still dreams of taking part in the WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment).

Currently, these women wrestlers under Khadka train at a training facility in Shanti Nagar, Kathmandu. She informs us of a plan underway with the local municipal authorities to build a covered hall for the women in Bhaktapur.

Even though many consider it to be mostly acting, Khadka states that the wrestling on display is as close to real wrestling as it gets. Although the occasional flair for the dramatic must be maintained for the cameras, wrestlers get severely injured performing stunts at times.