Kathmandu, February 20
For any tennis player, it is a dream to play a Grand Slam at some point. Abhilasha Bista, the No 1 player of Nepali women's tennis, is not an exception. She also has a dream of at least making it to the Grand Slam, if not win. Not only her, everyone knows, this is a big dream. And Bista, who has just turned 19, is working hard for this.
These days, her routine is tennis and just tennis. Tennis in the morning, tennis in the afternoon, and tennis in the evening. If you don't do this, where will the dream of playing Grand Slam be fulfilled? Bista is also lucky, because she has a family that supports her in this dream.
Bista, who grew up in Sanepa, lives with her family Thaiba. She and her brother, Abhishek grew up in the sports environment. At St Xavier's School, there used to be a lot of sports activities. And as a kid, Bista was attracted to tennis.
It has been 12 years since she started playing. Bista, who is studying software engineering, has set a journey on the tennis court that is very attractive in itself and one can be proud of it.
Bista is an all-rounder, who prefers to play aggressively from the baseline. She is special as many things have happened for the first time in Nepali tennis with her in the centre.
She is the only female player in Nepal who is playing professional tennis. As she just turned pro, she is not ranked in world ford. However an inspired Ferran Torres helped Sergi Roberto to break the deadlock and Lewandowski added a second to leave Cadiz, 17th, two points above the relegation zone.
The visitors had two Roger Marti goals disallowed and made Barcelona uncomfortable at times at Camp Nou but their victory rarely seemed in doubt.
Xavi began with Sergi Roberto in midfield, replacing Pedri, who suffered a thigh injury in the Europa League 2-2 first-leg draw with Manchester United last Thursday. The coach passionately defended the Catalan after the game, saying he was a player of tennis. But when she was a junior player, Bista had reached 428th place in the world ranking.
In the ninth National Games held in Pokhara last year, Bista won four gold medals - in all of the events she participated - in women's singles, doubles, mixed doubles and team event.
Since turning pro, Bista has participated in three major tournaments - two $15,000 events and one $25,000 competition.
Bista, who prefers to play on clay courts, wants to reach the top by playing in similar tournaments and collecting points.
And her ambition got recognition from the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum. She earned nomination in the People's Choice category - one of the nine categories of the Pulsar Sports Award - along with footballer Anjan Bista, cricketer Aasif Sheikh, spiker Usha Bhandari and swimmer Duwan Lama. Bista is also the first tennis player to be nominated in this category. She says, "I was delighted when I heard the news, even a little bit shocked."
She feels proud after getting such recognition from the sports journalist's body. The winner will be decided on public votes along with the votes from sports journalists and chief coaches of the national sports associations. ten used as a scapegoat.
However, it was Torres' arrival that made the key difference for Barcelona in the first half. The winger has struggled badly at times this season, but with Ousmane Dembele injured and Raphinha rested to face United, he took his chance with both hands.
Torres was hyperactive, dribbling past defenders at pace and tying Cadiz's defence in knots.
One such run down the right saw him cross for Lewandowski after 43 minutes and although the Polish striker's effort was saved, Sergi Roberto was on hand to smash home the rebound.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
