It is extremely important for Nepal to celebrate athletes like Palesha Goverdhan, who recently returned from the Tokyo Paralympics Games after getting close to winning a bronze medal. She had lost to Chinese Yujie Li in the repechage final of the below-58kg weight category in the Tokyo Games.

The country counts on a number of promising adaptive sports athletes who deserve more attention and more support.

Attention and support from whom, you might wonder.

Well, let's start from you, the reader. Nepal won't become a more inclusive, just and open country unless persons with disabilities get a fair chance at emerging and thriving sports.

Only your commitment can help break the status quo.

Sports is a great medium to create awareness among members of the society over the rights of persons with disabilities, and this piece is about rights but is also about celebrating achievements and supporting Palesha for what she is: a very talented, hard working and successful sports woman who has now reached 5th position in world ranking in para-taekwondo in which she competes.

For this reason, everybody needs to step up, starting from the schools' administrators who could organise sessions with national adaptive sports not as one-off events but in a structured, long-term fashion.

Then it is good that the business community takes notice of athletes like Palesha, and that's why the financial support that the president of Sumeru Group, who also happens to be the vice-president of Nepal Taekwondo Association, is welcome.

I would like to see this support going further, and here is a proposition or perhaps a provocation: can Sumeru Group endorse Palesha as its Brand Ambassador? I had already got a similar idea at the end of 2019 and at the beginning of 2020 when I wrote a couple of columns for Perspective, the then supplement of this daily.

In those pieces I was making the case for another amazing adaptive athlete, Keshav Thapa, probably one of the best para tennis athletes in South Asia and beyond.

Following the publication of these articles, I had tried to approach a renowned bank that in the past had endorsed several top national athletes.

Unfortunately, it did not work out at all, and at the end Keshav did not make it to Tokyo. Perhaps, the pandemic was a big factor in blocking Keshav from competing at the Paralympics, but for sure the economic factor was decisive and, with no doubts, a constant worry for him.

It was such a factor that Keshav had to rely on a generous private sponsor from the UK, a person in love with Nepal and particularly sensitive on the issue of disability, for him to be able to make it to several qualifying international tournaments, a pre-requisite for flying to Tokyo.

He was really close, believe me.

The fact that only one athlete was able to compete at the Paralympics is not only a sad thing, but it is also a failure on the system and on the country.

There are many other outstanding athletes who really pushed themselves hard in order to fulfill their dreams to compete at the biggest and most prestigious sport event in the world but could not make it.

For example, Sarita Thulung, a national para-swimmer that had high hopes for the Games, and she is just one among many.

So I am not here to blame anyone, but this should be a wake-up call for the entire sports system of the nation and perhaps for the entire nation.

We truly need leadership, vision, determination and, of course, accountability to lay the foundations for an all-inclusive sports' revival.

Now let's go back to my initial question –from whom should we expect support and attention to generate a quantum leap for adaptive sports in the country? Besides your own personal commitment as a citizen, unsurprisingly we certainly need a bigger and better role of the government institutions at all levels, from local to federal.

The state as a whole has a huge responsibility in ensuring that adaptive sports, and sports in general, can thrive.

It is certainly a time to revisit and acknowledge areas of improvements and start planning for the next games in Paris.

Certainly, we need bold planning and lots of hard work and a much stronger involvement of the athletes in decision-making.

Lastly, we need the support and attention of people like Bharat Maharjan, the President of Sumeru Group.

The private sector, which seems to be rebounding from the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, could invest in endorsing promising athletes, especially, but not only, those living with disabilities.

With foresight and patience like long-term investors, they can identify those athletes who, still at early stages of their career, can potentially really go far and triumph for the country.

Imagine if each business house above a certain turnover could support one promising adaptive sports athlete and a sport peer living without disabilities? Such 'duos' would project an image of a country that works hard and invests big on sports and social inclusion.

Having the commitment of the private sector is paramount because with the business people on board, politicians and sports administrators can be more easily nudged into action.

Wrapping up, let's salute Palesha's accomplishment and her entire coaching team.

Wishing her the best, let's hope that longer support will materialise so that she can become the number one in world ranking.

Equally important, let's encourage all those athletes with disabilities who could not make it to Tokyo.

Hopefully, they will manage to turn their anger and disappointment into fresh energy and vigour that will help them set new ambitious goals. Please do not give up.

Galimberti is the co-founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities

A version of this article appears in the print on September 27 2021, of The Himalayan Times.