The

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

ese play many

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s at national as well as at international level. The most popular sport played in Nepal is

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

followed by football. The

Nepal national cricket team The Nepal national cricket team ( ne, नेपाल राष्ट्रिय क्रिकेट टीम) nicknamed The Rhinos and Gorkhalis, represents the country of Nepal in International cricket and is governed by the Cricket Ass ...

has achieved great achievements in comparison to other sport including participation in World Cup (

World T20 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...

), cricketer

Sandeep Lamichhane Sandeep Lamichhane ( ne, सन्दीप लामिछाने, ; born 2 August 2000) is a Nepalese cricketer who captained the Nepalese national team, A right-arm leg spin bowler, Lamichhane has played for Twenty20 franchise sides acro ...

's participation in international leagues and gaining the One Day International status. Nepal's

national sport A national sport is considered to be an intrinsic part of the culture of a nation. Some sports are ''de facto'' (not established by law) national sports, as sumo is in Japan and Gaelic games are in Ireland and field hockey in Pakistan, while othe ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, officially declared on 23 May 2017.

Sports events

Olympics

Nepal first competed in the summer Olympics at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and has competed in eleven straight summer Olympics starting from the

1972 Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. Nepal has also competed in four winter Olympic events first competing in the 2002 Salt Late City Olympics and last competed in the event at the

2014 Sochi Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

. As of 2018, Nepal has not won a medal in any of the Olympic events.

Asian Games

Nepal competed at first Asian Games in 1951 at New Delhi and won its first medal at the event in the 1986 Seoul Games, winning 8 bronze medals. As of 2018, Nepal has won 2 silver medals and 22 bronze medals at the event.

South Asian Games

Nepal has competed in every edition of the South Asian Games and has hosted the event in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. As of 2019, Nepal is the fourth-most successful country, winning 679 medals winning 130 gold medals, 182 silver medals and 367 bronze medals.

National Games

The Nepal Olympic Committee and the

National Sports Council The National Sports Council (NSC) is the national overseer of the control authorities of 41 different sports in Bangladesh. It is responsible to the Bangladesh Ministry of Youth and Sports and is based in Purana Paltan, Dhaka Dhaka ( or ...

hosts the National Games of Nepal every two or three years. The event is meant to identify talent for the South Asian Games, Asian Games and Olympic Games as well as develop sporting infrastructure throughout the country. The National Games have been held eight times with the first event being held in 1982 at

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

By sport

Team sports

Cricket

The

is controlled by the

Cricket Association of Nepal Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is the official governing body of cricket in Nepal. It was suspended from 2016 to 13 October 2019 due to governmental interference. The ICC welcomed the elections of the board held in September 2019 and for ...

(CAN) which was founded in 1946. CAN became a member of the

in 1961 and was awarded affiliate status by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

in 1988 and since 1996 has been recognized as an associate member. Nepal has been successful in regional events organized by the

Asian Cricket Council The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional ...

, placing first in the ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament in 2006/07 and sharing the title with the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

in the

2012 ACC Trophy Elite The 2012 ACC Trophy Elite is a cricket tournament in UAE, taking place between 3 and 12 October 2012. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international Limited overs cricket, one-day cricket and al ...

. The women's team made their debut in 2007 and has qualified for the

Women's Asia Cup The Asian Cricket Council Women's Asia Cup or ACC Women's Asia Cup is a women's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 2004 and is a biennial tournament. The tournament is contested by crick ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. Nepal qualified for the

2014 ICC World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. ...

which was the only appearance by the senior men's team at a major ICC event, which also gave them Twenty20 International (T20I) until 2015. The national under-19 team has qualified for the

Under-19 Cricket World Cup The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is an international cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by national under-19 teams. First contested in 1988, as the Youth World Cup, it was not staged again u ...

seven times including winning the Plate Championship in 2006. ACC_Twenty20_Nepal_v_Malaysia

Nepal claimed One Day International (ODI) status for the first time with their six wicket win over

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in the

2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two te ...

play off encounter on 15 March 2018. The men and women's team both currently have T20I status as a result of an ICC decision to expand the status to all member nations.

Football

Football (also known as soccer) is one of the most popular sports in Nepal. The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is the governing body of Nepalese football that organizes the men's and women's national teams. Football was introduced to Nepal during the

Rana regime Rana dynasty ( ne, राणा वंश, IAST=Rāṇā vaṃśa , ) is a Chhetri dynasty that imposed totalitarianism in the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1951, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making Prime Minister and other ...

in the 1921. Since its introduction play was mostly limited to the Kathmandu Valley but since the turn of the millennium more tournaments have started to be organized throughout the country. The

Martyr's Memorial A-Division League Martyr's Memorial A-Division League ( Nepali: शहीद स्मारक ए- डिभिजन लिग; formerly known as the Kathmandu League Championship) is the top divisions of football in Nepal. Contested by 12 to 16 clubs, it opera ...

is the premier football league in Nepal and has been organized since 1955. The Nepal national team was organized in 1972 after being affiliated to FIFA in 1971 and lost to China in their first official match. Nepal regularly participates in tournaments organized by the

South Asian Football Federation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), founded in 1997, is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mal ...

(SAFF) and the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

(AFC) and was the winner of the

2016 AFC Solidarity Cup The 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup was the inaugural edition of the AFC Solidarity Cup, an international football tournament. It took place between 2–15 November 2016 in Malaysia. The tournament was created by the Asian Football Confederation as a r ...

Volleyball

Volleyball was declared the

of Nepal on 23 May 2017. The

Nepal Volleyball Association The Nepal Volleyball Association (NVA) is a national non-governmental, nonprofit sports organization in the Nepal. It represents Nepal in the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball and the Asian Volleyball Confederation, as well as the volleybal ...

(NVA) is the governing body of volleyball in Nepal and organizes the men's and women's national teams. Nepal competes in tournaments organized by the

Central Asian Zonal Volleyball Association The Central Asian Volleyball Association is the governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball in Central Asia and South Asia. In the spirit of the FIVB 2001 plan, AVC was the first to create five zonal associations at the ...

which operates under the

Asian Volleyball Confederation The Asian Volleyball Confederation, commonly known by the acronym AVC, is the continental governing body for the sports of indoor, beach, and grass volleyball in Asia and Oceania. It has 65 member associations, mostly located in the Asia-Pacif ...

. As in many other countries, women's volleyball is more popular than men's.

Individual sports

Swimming

Gaurika Singh Gaurika Singh ( ne, गौरिका सिंह; born 26 November 2002) is a Nepali Swimming (sport), swimmer. She has held many national records since beginning her swimming career at the young age of eight. She has set the record of winnin ...

participated at the 2016 Summer Olympics,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Brazil, as the youngest Olympian, representing Nepal in the Women's 100m backstroke.

Leagues

References

External links

National sports commission of NepalMinistry of youth and sports, Nepal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sport In Nepal Sports in Nepal