Over the last few years, the Cricket Association of Blind (CAB) has been stepping up its work and its ambition to turn blind cricket into a truly national sport. When I am talking about national sport, I mean a sport not just for visually impaired people but for all, persons living with and without disabilities alike.

After all this should be the norm, an accomplished reality and not only for blind cricket but, in general, for all adaptive sports targeting persons living with disabilities but potentially, many of which, let's not forget, can also be played by able-bodied persons as well.

CAB has been striving to bring blind cricket to the next level since many years, and it has certainly created an unprecedented situation where Nepal is really highly considered and respected within the sports. Over the years, the organisation has also ensured that a new crop of players, a new generation of young promising women and men could also take the lead.

Grooming a new group of young players is essential and, in this regard, CAB has been a true outlier because its founding members, including Colonel Pawan Ghimire and Upendra Shrestha, among others, realised that in order to thrive, it is essential to invest in young people.

If such basic principle of leadership had been embraced by the whole society, especially politicians, the country would have been in a different league of national development and far less youths would have been forced to migrate to the Gulf and Malaysia.

Another essential principle embraced by CAB is to empower women through cricket. Now CAB is organising another great opportunity to celebrate the skills and performances of its women athletes, and it is something where all the members of the organisation have been putting on an incredible effort. From the 27th to the 30th of this month, the organisation is hosting the 2nd bilateral blind women cricket series between Nepal and India at the Mulpani cricket ground.

This is another great opportunity to promote the sports and at the same time come to know incredible athletes who, despite the lack of visibility and recognition, are striving to become the best they can, not only on the ground but also in life. The CAB leadership managed to put together a great coalition of partners, starting from the Australian Embassy that has been showing enthusiasm and an enduring commitment towards inclusive forms of sports, especially focused on uplifting the potential of young girls.

In addition, other organisations, both international, national, including government agencies and private corporations, have been stepping up. UNDP, UN Women, Action Aid Nepal, Tewa Nepal, Gandaki Province Sports Council, Pokhara Metropolitan City, Himalayan Bank, Sunrise Bank have all provided financial support.

Moreover, a bunch of other institutions, mostly private, have also been doing their best by providing in kind support that, when we talk about a sports event, is also extremely important. Putting together this web of partners has been extremely difficult for CAB, and it is the result of months and months of planning and networking, but there is no doubt that the upcoming tournament will be not only be a great sports event but also a celebration of diversity and inclusion.

I have known Colonel Ghimire for many years, and I have been enjoying collaborating with him since the first day we met. He turned a life setback into an opportunity to help others to shine and find their role in the society and he has been doing so with graciousness, positive attitudes, patience, a great smile and a sense of humour. It should not be a surprise that working with him has always been a great learning for me.

More recently, we have been working together on the idea of 'Good Coaching', how sports coaching can become a transformative tool to change for the better of society.

This initiative originally stems from a project supported by the Australian Embassy, and we would like to prove that embracing sports can be one of the best tools to achieve personal and professional excellence.

In this regard, sports coaches have an extremely huge role to play for this as enabler of personal excellence, mentors and positive guides. Indeed, the national athletes who will soon play against India are an example of such an empowerment process through sports.

Without embracing blind cricket and sports in general, most of them might have not been able to find the level of confidence and determination to do well in life.

Sports came to them as a platform to build their character based on positive values also stemming from the philosophy enshrined, day in and day out, in CAB's work ethics and attitudes. Now it is important that the public come to watch the games against India.

After so much work, all those who love cricket and sports in general should show up at Mulpani cricket ground next week. The CAB team also stepped up a lot in terms of visibility and branding, and rightly so because when we promote inclusive sports practices, we have to be always very good at communicating, at trying to reach out the public.

Coming to watch the tournament can be a gesture of national pride, and I sincerely hope that lots of people will show up. Schools in the nearby areas should seize this opportunity and bring their students to watch the games and interact with the players.

Hopefully also the huge Indian community living in the Valley will also come in big numbers.

After all this is another way to cement the relationships between two neighbouring countries, two nations where persons with disabilities have been struggling and coping a lot.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.