A Champion for Para Sports and Women in Nepal

Nirmala is a UN Inspiring Women 2018 and an above-knee amputee from Nepal. Her passion is traveling, exploring unexplored new places, and promoting accessible tourism. She sees the challenges women and people with disabilities face in her country and believes sports have the power to change perceptions and empower individuals.

In addition to being a national champion in the 55 kg weight category of Para powerlifting and participating in the Para Asian games in 2018, Nirmala is also a national wheelchair basketball player and has competed in many national championships and awareness games for disability. She also serves as treasurer at Amputee Sports Society Nepal, a platform that allows amputee players to play amputee football, share the experience, and grow together by motivating each other. She also won NepaliTravelers Solo Woman Travel Challenge (SWO YATRA) 2019, a travel grant competition that facilitates solo women travelers in Nepal. In addition to her many awards, Nirmala traveled solo for 35 days across Nepal in her four-wheel scooter.

Nirmala wants to be an icon in the disability sports arena in Nepal with a strong identity so that all girls who seek the courage to open up, desire freedom, and stand up can get inspired and be encouraged. Being a woman with a disability with such an identity is rare in Nepal, especially in the overall sports sector, and rare in disability sports. Because of this, Nirmala wants to utilize all means possible as an individual and an organization. She hopes to learn and share the spirit of professionalism, enabling girls to commercialize sports skills into an income-generating medium. Her specific mission is to include a population of school-going children in disability sports who have not been included in Nepal yet.