Rio de Janeiro, Aug 16

An Olympic medal may only be a pipe dream for the Nepali athletes for decades to come, but a young umpire has created history by becoming the first Nepali to officiate in the Olympic games in Rio de Jeneiro.

Deepak Thapa, 39, entered the arena as line judge for the first-round women’s badminton doubles match between Denmark and China here at the Riocentro Pavilion 4.

Thapa was selected as one of the eight umpires from Asia as line judges for the Olympics and he considers it a first step towards glory.

“Getting selected for the Olympics means a lot,” Thapa told The Himalayan Times. According to Thapa, the Badminton World Federation picked all the technical officials and he was recommended by the Badminton Asia Confederation.

“We are under observation throughout the year and we have to inform the BAC about our activities regularly,” said Thapa. “Top umpires from the world are assigned to conduct the matches and the BWF picks senior umpires from regional bodies as line judges to ensure quality refereeing,” said Thapa, who is an accredited umpire of the BAC.

He is also in the line judge panel for 2015-18, along with another Nepali umpire, Kiran Karanjitkar.

Thapa became senior umpire this year after he passed the exams in China. Thapa has been in international umpiring for four years.

His aim is to eventually sit on the chair and officiate big matches, including the Olympics.

But 39-year-old Thapa knows it’s not going to be easy out there. “It is a very challenging job, as the players can challenge the decision through Instant Review System these days,” said Thapa. “So you need to be perfect all the time.”

Thapa said he would be eligible to become a BWF accredited umpire in three years, but only after clearing an exam for the same.