Pratima Sherpa (18), a girl born to a couple working in the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) course next to the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu, never thought that she would become Nepal’s top-rated female golf player.

Sounds That Resonated

                        Pratima Sherpa with her parents

Aspiring to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer, Pratima recalls her rejoicing moments in her early days where she used to feel refreshed listening to the sounds of golf balls hit by golfers at the club.

In fact, Pratima’s passion for golf sport stemmed out during her family’s stay at the golf course with lawnmowers as part of their employment and has moved her further to take up the sport properly from the age of 11 years.

Whereas, roots for her passion actually lies in the typical Nepali rural outdoor game Dandi Biyo, played by hitting a 6-inch long wooden pin (Biyo) into the air with a wooden stick (Dandi) and strike it again before other players catch it, which she played in her childhood.

Dandi Biyo has been Nepal’s unofficial national sport until Volleyball was declared officially on May 23, 2017.

Talent Finds Recognition

    Pratima Sherpa earns wide recognition

Pratima’s talent got due recognition from one of the coaches when she was learning the sport through juniors’ program run by the club.

The coach joined Pratima under his own wing for free and further appointed a member who introduced her to a set of old clubs.

Pratima continued her practice and eventually crossed various challenges that got her around 40 trophies, so far. But, she never relaxed and practices for at least two hours a day.

“Nepal is a smaller country than most, and playing golf can be difficult for poor families like ours. But I’ve got a big opportunity to play golf, and feel very proud and lucky that I’ve got that chance. I want to become a great golfer,” says Pratima.

From Kathmandu to Further Heights

Despite holding such a talent, Pratima had to struggle a lot for getting a passport to fly abroad to present her skill in the global arena.

Even though an American member of the club offered to adopt, Pratima never thought of leaving her parents.

Finally, with the help of her relations, she could get the passport and has recently travelled to the United States, where she stayed six weeks experiencing golf for the first time outside Nepal.

                          Pratima Sherpa (File Picture)

After being hosted by a Nepali software engineer, Pratima competed in five regional tournaments in California winning one of them and made it at top-6 in the two other matches.

A Hong Kong based sponsorship is also in offing for Pratima currently, which requires her to return to States and pursue golf classes at the California’s Santa Barbara City College.

Pratima, currently playing off a five golf handicap, loves to play for the Faldo Series China Championship, the tournament that hosted renowned Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy and  Taiwanese golfer Yani Tseng.

“It’s really wonderful to see that the whole of Nepal has got excited about Pratima. They’re so proud of her and so supportive. She’s an amazing spokesperson, an amazing icon for Nepali golf and more generally for Nepal and Nepali women,” says Oliver Horovitz, a journalist, author and a golf caddy, who met Pratima at RNGC.

For the Country

Keeping aside key challenges in personal life (caring for family) and career passion, Pratima loves and finds her ability to balance both in a proper way.

In the process, she is also pursuing a four-year business studies course at Thames International College of Kathmandu.

“I can’t say how far my golf career will go. Ultimately, I want to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer,” says Pratima.

“Royal family is gone, we have a new government and there are more opportunities for women. There’s a Nepali proverb, Fruits of labor are always sweet, so now I’ve been given the opportunity to play golf I am going to try my hardest,” reads her latest statement.

Public supporters of Pratima have started www.teampratima.com to raise donations favoring Pratima’s career. This clearly shows the level of love and support Pratima has gained from Nepali society for her sincere efforts.

Pratima always wishes to give back to her nation.

“I want to develop golf in Nepal. I will give back to the Nepali golf community and will help underprivileged children enjoy the sport as I have,” she adds.

“Any competitive golfer that wants to be on the world stage is working hard. Not all of them have that joy for every single shot they hit. I thought that was a pretty striking difference from Pratima and other young players. She has an amazing opportunity to really influence a ton of kids over in Kathmandu. She’s inspiring a generation of kids over there,” says a renowned US’ Golf Coach Don Parsons.

 Golf in Nepal In Brief

Golf in Nepal took its actual form in 1917 when the then prime minister of the country introduced golf clubs following his Scotland trip and had also set up a basic course. However, the sport remained limited to the then Nepali elite families and expatriates for long until RNGC came up in 1965.

Apart from RNGC, which has 9 golf holes, Nepal has three other golf courses in the Kathmandu Valley (Gokarna Golf Course), Pokhara and Dharan.

Nepal’s golf community fear RNGC might get affected if the Government of Nepal’s supposed plans to expanding TIA are implemented.

Overall, Nepal has a total of four golf courses in contrast to hundreds of registered golf players.

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A similar strategy struck a Nepali pilot Captain Bed Prasad Upreti’s mind, who moved on to create Nepal’s first such aviation museum out of a plane that crash-landed at the country’s only international airport two years back.

Airbus 330, a Turkish Airlines plane that was carrying around 224 passengers, had skid off the runway and crash-landed at the Kathmandu Airport in March 2015.

Luckily, the crash did not harm any of the passengers on-board. But, the airport had to remain shut for almost four days till the removal of the crash-landed plane.

Eventually, the plane was parked aside at a corner of the airport where it remained exposed to open environment rusting for almost two years.

Here is where Upreti’s initiative to create the country’s largest aviation museum began.

“It is unfortunate that the aircraft had an accident and was grounded, but I saw a perfect opportunity,” says Upreti.

A Struggle Behind

Upreti’s efforts to turn the crashed plane into an aviation museum began with bringing the crashed plane 63 meter from airport across the road to the museum lot.

As a process, Upreti recalls a similar experience he had in transporting an abandoned Fokker 100, half the size of Airbus A330, 500 km to Dhangadi of Nepal’s far west to set up a museum on a smaller scale than the present one.

“Transporting that plane across districts was much easier than relocating the Airbus meters away from the airport,” adds Upreti.

He has changed the interior of the plane by removing the entire seating set up and made it spacious.

Upreti invested USD 600,000 and also acquired Rs 20 million aid in loan from the Everest Bank to build the museum.

“As per the contract, if we are unable to run the aviation museum after 10 years from now, all the parts of this museum will be sold to junkyards. I hope that won’t happen,” says Bed.

An Inspiration to Youth, A Must for Tourists

                 (Bedi Prasad Upreti)

Upreti was hopeful that the museum will be an inspiration to youngsters towards pursuing careers in pilot and engineering courses.

“Passers-by are already peeking to get a glimpse,” adds Upreti with confidence over huge public attention to the museum.

The museum-turned plane features a model of the world’s first aircraft of Wright Brothers’ in the business class section and a café in the in the tail part.

“The museum will give a chance to some Nepalis who might never fly to step into a plane,” says Shyam Rauniyar (22), an engineering student who was part of the team that prepared the model of the Wright Brother’s plane. 

Besides, the museum also features more than 150 miniature display planes that illustrate the world’s aviation history and also the story of Nepal’s flying industry.

The museum offers free entry for the students of Grade IX-XII across Nepal provided they have an official letter endorsing the visit from their schools and all the students with IDs get 50 percent off.

“It is not possible to give free tickets to all the students, but we are trying discounts. We are also encouraging students to pursue higher studies to make their career in aviation field,” says Upreti on offering free tickets to the students.

The museum also displays 86 photographs of Upreti’s journey to 80 countries so far. The captured displays include historical and cultural monuments of Nepal in an aerial view and also the underwater captures of various seas all over.

Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft with 208 feet in height and 55 feet in width.

For a Social Cause

Besides driving the youth towards careers in aviation sector, the museum planned under the Bed Upreti Trust also stands for a noble social cause.

“The Bed Upreti Trust is a non-profit organization that has already set up an aviation museum in an abandoned Fokker 100 in Dhangadi. The revenue from that project goes to assist cancer patients. The museum in Kathmandu is a sequel to the Dhangadi venture for which the Trust has partnered with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN),” informed Upreti.

In Response to Cause for Global Aviation

         Model of crash-landed Airbus A330 aircraft

This aviation museum is part of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s efforts to address a severe shortage of pilots across the world.

In this regard, ICAO has started a Next-Generation Aviation Professional program and has called on its partner organizations across the globe to implement the same.

“CAAN has responded to this call by starting its own campaign to get students interested in the aviation sector in Nepal. This aviation museum is a part of that effort and a result of cooperation between CAAN and the Bed Upreti Trust,” says Birendra Prasad Shrestha, Deputy Director, CAAN.

According to a recent survey, the global aviation industry will need 350,000 new pilots and 450,000 aeronautical technicians within the next decade.

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